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Xiaomi launched the SU7, its first all-electric sports saloon, on 28 March. Just a little over a month after its initial launch, as of 30 April, the SU7 had secured lock-in orders (non-refundable deposits) of 88,063 units in China. Is the popularity of the SU7 caused by the irresistible charisma of Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s Chairman and CEO? Or is it the Taycan-inspired exterior design? Let’s take a closer look!
State-owned Chinese car manufacturer GAC Group became the newest member of Nio‘s battery swap alliance. Together, GAC and Nio will promote the establishment of battery standards for swappable batteries and develop a battery swap service network. Last year, GAC Group sold almost 550,000 new energy vehicles.
During his recent visit to Beijing, Elon Musk proposed testing Tesla’s full self-driving (FSD) functions in the Chinese market by deploying them as “unnamed taxis.” WallstreetCN reports that Chinese officials offered partial support for this plan.
Li Auto has managed to find itself in a lot of headlines over the May holiday period which this year ran from May 1 to May 5. Highlights include the driverless highway driving incident, sales of the L6 and the results of Li usage over the holiday period.
The whole market was down in week 18 (April 29 – May 5) of the year due to the Labor Day holiday. Xiaomi registered 1,300 units of SU7, down 24%, Nio was down 28%, Tesla was 26% down, and BYD nearly 18% down from the week before.
In April, 243,000 new passenger cars were registered in the most significant European auto market, up 20% from the previous year. 29,668 were all-electric vehicles (BEV), which accounts for 12.2% of the market share – mostly flat from the same month of the last year. Chinese brands registered 3,580 electric cars in Germany, which accounts for 12% of BEV sales in Germany.
Crash tests follow a pretty strict format and for that reason they’ve often come in for criticism that cars have safety measures purely engineered for tests. One of the nightmare scenarios for many is driving your car off a cliff. Obviously it doesn’t happen much in everyday life but people can’t but help but worry. Chery also seemed curious and so it dropped a Chery Exeed Exlantix ET from a height of 32 meters. Sales of the Chery Exeed Exlantix ET will commence on May 9.
Nio France General Manager Nicolas Vincelot shared insights about upcoming EVs from Onvo and Firefly brands at the China-France Business Council. He said the Onvo L60 will launch globally in late 2024. Mr. Vincelot also pointed out that the Firefly EV will also enter Europe in 2025 with a price tag below 30,000 EUR (32,275 USD).