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BYD Bets on Budget EV Boom with Atto 1 Debut in Indonesia
- Mistletoe 1y agoReally wish we could get some in the USA…
- yesbut 1y agohttps://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/14/joe-biden-tariff-chinese-made-electric-vehicles https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/14/joe...
- ryandrake 1y agoWe need to stop distorting the market to protect bloated US companies who can’t seem to make a sub-$10K car anymore.
- cscurmudgeon 1y ago[dead]
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- t1234s 1y agoInstead of small cheap hatchbacks we get the electric hummer.
- alephnerd 1y agoPeople in the US haven't been buying small cheap hatchbacks for years. Look at how the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent Hatchback, and the Kia Rio faired in the US market. Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and Kia would have continued to manufacture and sell these in the US if there was demand, which there wasn't. What I'm surprised by is the non-existence of an Indonesian owned and designed brand, but that's probably a result of the Asian Financial Crisis back in the day, but it's embarrassing given that historically poorer Vietnam has been able to incubate it's own domestic ecosystem for EVs and ICE cars. Indonesia has stagnated over the past decade based on developmental indicators and seems to be falling into the commodities trap instead of upskilling into processing.
- radpanda 1y agoAs I understand it there was actually healthy demand for the Honda Fit and it sold profitably, but US-bound Fits were made in the same Mexico factory that made the more profitable Honda HR-V. The HR-V was successful enough that it displaced some Fit production and there were waiting lists at Honda dealers to get a Fit. Eventually the HR-V became popular enough that the Celaya factory switched to 100% HR-V production. It wasn’t that Honda couldn’t sell Fits to Americans at a small profit, it’s that they found they could use their manufacturing capacity to sell more expensive, more profitable models to Americans instead.
- MobiusHorizons 1y agoThe fit is an awesome car! My friend owns one and the way the rear seats fold into the floor is a sight to behold. Immensely practical vehicle.
- alephnerd 1y ago> US-bound Fits were made in the same Mexico factory that made the more profitable Honda HR-V > The HR-V was successful enough that it displaced some Fit production > it’s that they found they could use their manufacturing capacity to sell more expensive, more profitable models to Americans instead. That by definition implies that the Fit did not have ideal PMF. You do NOT want to be managing multiple SKUs, especially if they are cannibalizing each others market. It's also an additional point showing that if given the option or the ability, consumers would spend a couple thousand more just to get a CUV instead if a hatchback. Edit: I forgot, no one on HN understands how basic business works. Keep the downvotes coming
- MobiusHorizons 1y agoMy personal theory is the people who want them don’t buy new vehicles. That is true of all the people I know who own hatchbacks (myself included).
- idiotsecant 1y agoTrue. Nobody buys a new hatchback - the kind of practical person who wants a hatchback wouldn't dream of taking the new vehicle depreciation hit. You get one with a Facebook marketplace discount.
- _carbyau_ 1y agoCost of living Stage 1: you want a smaller cheaper car. Stage 2: buying/renting a house is too much so get a bigger car to sleep in... Seriously though, I want a 4WD electric version of a Mazda MX5 with Hyundai's Ioniq N series drift mode. Fun every day, more fun on track days.
- dmix 1y agoThese prices might be temporary, CCP is trying to crack down on deflationary pricing which is cannibalizing it's own internal markets. A product of competing provincial governments subsidizing their local companies with cheap debt and the overuse of promissory notes between vendors. It's resulted in a record number of bankruptcies and created a financial risk similar to China's real estate bubble. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbFE60Z-_VQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbFE60Z-_VQ Think: how Uber used VC money to offer cheap prices and undercut competition, but times hundreds of companies using government money driving the whole market down into fantasy land. Eventually prices have to come back to reality or the factories won't have capital.
- alephnerd 1y agoFor the Atto 1, around $12K makes sense. Equivalent EVs from Indian companies like Tata and Mahindra and Vietnamese companies like Vinfast sell for around $8-10K. The price war in China is when a new Atto 1 could be bought for $6-8k from a dealership on discount. That's why BYD (and SAIC, Geely, GWM, etc) have been expanding abroad so quickly - in order to build their own niche to survive the Chinese price war. That said, as I predicted a year ago, the Chinese leadership has started cracking down on the price war in China for burning capital - especially at provincial SOEs who have been facing the brunt of the war because privately owned BYD has been outcompeting the SOEs.
- dmix 1y agoRegardless of the potentially unsound money involved that is pretty great they can produce these cars for $12k. Hopefully the export gamble pays off enough to cover the internal issues, history is full of companies have a habit of stretching out the good times on easy money before they hit a wall. BYD would probably just consume the smaller competition in such an event, just mostly bad news for provincial government debt.
- alephnerd 1y ago> that is pretty great they can produce these cars for $12k All new hatchback EVs comparable to the Atto in Asia can be purchased at around $8-12K as I mentioned before, like the Tata Tiago EV, Tata Punch EV, and VinFast VF3. > Regardless of the potentially unsound money involved It becomes unsound when you are selling it at $7-8K, which is what has been happening in China. Hypothetically great for consumers, but in action it was a net negative because the SOEs competing against BYD are all owned by provinces, so it was citizens money getting burned. This itself is why Chinese leadership has reprimanded the entire EV industry a couple days ago for reckless price wars [0] [0] - https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/202507/content_7032374.htm https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/202507/content_7032374.htm
- pm90 1y agoIn less than 10 years the entire US automotive industry is gonna go bust. I just… can’t understand how anyone can look at the progress being made by BYD/Huawei and not be compelled to completely reorient the American economy to build/run EVs. Bot only would it help the US compete but would likely create massive numbers of jobs too… instead the US will deindustrialize while China takes over the world.
- toomuchtodo 1y agoManagement and shareholders care about today; in 10 years, it’ll be someone else’s problem. Just like the first wave of US deindustrialization.
- 6510 1y agoWell then, just add a tax for selling within less than 10 years.
- kortilla 1y agoTesla?
- cenamus 1y agoBYD is almost half the price and doesn't come with Musk attached
- chrini3930 1y ago> Tesla? Next time you’re in Asia (hell, anywhere outside USA) sit inside a BYD vehicle. Tesla-like acceleration with Porsche handling with Italian interior with Toyota reliability for HALF the god damn price of Tesla. US government does not want Americans to know China already won at EVs. It will hurt national pride. Just like how the space station is going down in 2030 with no plans to replace. Meanwhile China already has their own manned space station live today. Would not be surprised if NASA is abolished in the next few years.
- rr808 1y agoDoes anyone know what Chinese car quality is like? I guess there aren't any 15 year old Chinese EVs. Whenever someone says a Chinese product is exactly the same but half the price, it usually isn't the same quality.
- alephnerd 1y agoAt the Atto's price point, comparable to the equivalent entry level Tata, Suzuki, or VinFast EV. The discount from an American perspective kicks in at the $20K and above range. Mind you, it's a discount if you earn in dollars or a salary comparable to the West, which most Chinese, ASEAN, and other Asians do not (aside from the Asian Tigers or those working in top tech or finance roles in CN/ASEAN/IN). If you're household post-tax income is around $6k, a $12K let alone a $20K car is expensive given that housing is fairly pricy as well, and saving for rainy days is much more critical.
- vachina 1y agoMy dad dailies a previous gen Chinese ICE (Geely) as an experiment, 100k km and nothing major broke yet. It is not the most fuel efficient but maintenance is cheap.
- duskwuff 1y agoArs Technica reviewed a BYD Dolphin (small electric hatchback, £26k ≈ $35k) a few months ago: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/04/a-small-cheap-ev-you-cant-buy-in-the-us-we-test-the-byd-dolphin/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/04/a-small-cheap-ev-you-ca...
- typewithrhythm 1y agoWe get a significant range of new Chinese cars in Australia, and generally they are fine; in the low end of the market they are about the best quality for the money, in the middle they show issues where they can't deliver a overall polished product, so you get things like crappy driving dynamics or poor ADAS or janky UI. Think like you took a top trim Merc, and made one part very shit, and then priced it like a Toyota. There doesn't seem to be any significant longevity concerns, but they have also not been around that long.
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- vitorgrs 1y agoIn Brazil, they called it Dolphin Mini. It's been a huge success. BYD now it's ahead of Toyota in sales. If you told someone like, 3 years ago that this would happen, people would call you crazy, TOP 9 from May was: 1. FIAT 2. VW 3. GM 4. BYD 5. Toyota 6. Hyundai 7. Honda 8. Caoa-Chery 9. Jeep
- whazor 1y agoCheap EVs will make sitting in traffic accessible to more people.
- neurostimulant 1y agoWhelp, at least sitting in traffic will produce less pollution in an ev than in a regular combustion engine car.