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Comment by gumballindie | Hacker News Reader

One extra reason why I think countries such as Germany, who’s industry relies on highly polluting ice cars, is in for a shock. This decade is likely to see significant readjustment in terms of european economic “powerhouses”. Chinese and Asian quality is also on the rise overall, while German quality is on the fall. We shall what lies ahead but will be interesting to watch.

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I basically only saw three main categories of cars in Shenzen: Chinese EVs, Teslas, BMW ICE cars. There are of course other cars, but it seems like 8/10 cars is one of these three.

What is weirdly missing is Japanese hybrid/ice/electric cars. They are almost non-existent in Shenzen despite dominating in most areas of the world. Also, I can't recall seeing any Korean cars here.

There were a few Toyata ICE cars in the rural areas I visited but it seems like they're going away fast.

Hyundai China is a Beijing-based JV, so you'll see more up north than down south. Toyota got absolutely hammered by production problems in their Chinese factories a few years ago (so the reputation for Toyota in China is low vs. the higher quality rep they have everywhere else). GAC Toyota is based in Guangzhou however, so you would expect to see more down there. PHEVs don't have any special incentives in China, so you aren't going to see them (EV will get you into a special quota where you can buy a car at all in many tier 1 cities, PHEV gets you nothing).

I'd say its more a lack of R&D than quality overall.. I kind of expect a lot of Europeans to continue paying 4X more for cars that are 45% European and maybe have one or two strategic pieces of design but mostly just traditional quality cosmetics.

German here, working in the EV industry. General population is still skeptic towards EVs, but it's getting better, as charging stations become more common.

Some popular brands going fully electric in some years, most aiming for 50-80% fully electric before 2030. BMW/Porsche, politicians and population still wanting ICE cars.

Chinese brands are arriving, they are being slowly accepted, mainly because of their good price. Not hearing good things about the dealerships though. Dealerships are not getting replacement parts or enough support from China basically.

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