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> If I were in the market for a new car, I wouldn't consider anything but a Chinese car. The problem with these are a few things: 1. service network. When so
by mschuster91 1y ago
> If I were in the market for a new car, I wouldn't consider anything but a Chinese car.
The problem with these are a few things:
1. service network. When something goes kaput with a VW, BMW, Mercedes, Ford, GM, Toyota and even Tesla, there's ample service stations available to get the car back up and running. With a Chinese manufacturer no one but car nerds has heard about? Good luck finding anyone willing to even touch the thing, much less have that specific manufacturer's tooling to deal with computer problems.
2. spare parts logistics. Even the richest and most successful of the last 20 years worth of automotive startups has serious trouble getting spare parts to broken cars. Why should some random Chinese brand be any better than that?
3. Crash safety. "Chinesium" alloy is a meme at this point, but one based on truth. Who guarantees that the manufacturer didn't cheap out on production runs after the review/crashtest rating units went out?
4. Battery safety. Batteries are already hard enough to pull off at scale without sending an armada of tiny little bomblets around the planet... who guarantees that there is no supply chain fuckery going on?
- A_D_E_P_T 1y agoThese are quite laughable, even disingenuous-seeming, objections. - Everywhere they're sold there is a service center and parts are cheap. As for "Chinese manufacturer no one but car nerds has heard about": > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_manufacturers_by_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_manufacture... - The "chinesium" meme thing is a joke, you realize that, right? This is not a serious objection. Even the original greentext from ~2013 was really dumb, with the purchaser not running adequate tests. - CATL is pretty much the undisputed champion of making high-end batteries.
- cpursley 1y agoYour understanding of what’s happened with Chinese cars is 15 years out of date. They’re really good now, even better in some ways. And honestly, it’s just the push that the legacy car builders needed.
- tpm 1y agoThey might be good, but service network/spare part logistics is a huge issue at least in Europe. We can also expect some of them will go bankrupt because of the current price war. Of course European manfuacturers can also go bankrupt but at least spare parts will still be available by parts/aftermarket manufacturers, will this be the case for these too?
- cpursley 1y agoThat's a very reasonable argument. Personally I'd only go with a larger brand. Those Zeekers are very compelling and look good (European designed): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvnZ0mTCBng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvnZ0mTCBng
- happosai 1y agoPeople used to say the same things about Japanese cars...