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Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla
- juujian 11mo agoNot just Tesla, all established brands we know are left behind. I never understood Volkswagen's pivot from 'wait and See's to 'were inversing billions' to 'we were too late, abort'. Largest brands n terms of units, completely left behind in an emerging segment that's already dominating it's largest market (China). So many executives in the industry just didn't see the writing on the wall. I don't what GM was thinking, trying a truck as their first platform for EVs, but it's another indicator. This industry has the worst executives. Just don't see the writing on the wall.
- mtrovo 11mo agoThis is what makes the innovator's dilemma repeat itself so many times in so many industries. It's not that the incumbent companies don't see the new technology; it's that they're so entrenched in what they know how to do that pivoting to the new technology is basically a Hail Mary no matter how you do it. Do it too early and your shareholders are going to think you're crazy. Do it too late, and you're risking entering a new market as the chaser with a bad hand of company, employees, and board that don't have any idea of what they're doing.
- darth_avocado 11mo agoI think it’s less “pivoting is hard” and more “we know what’s right and we’re not going to pivot”. It’s not hard to have smaller R&D teams work on these problems to keep the innovation going, but most executives are out there prioritizing cost cuttings so that the shareholders get the quarterly dopamine boosts on the earnings calls.
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- prmph 11mo agoExactly, usually the companies know what's coming up, like you said. But, properly shifting gears to play a new game requires that you act like a startup again. It likely requires foregoing the fat margins you were used to. And it likely requires going back to the drawing board and actually learning from the market. And this is what companies find it hard to do. To be fair, I think that is not so bad a things. Companies should rise and die naturally. A few companies monopolizing markets forever does not seem good.
- thijson 11mo agoKodak knew digital cameras were coming, my first digital camera was a Kodak from the late 90's. I guess it wasn't in their DNA to innovate and compete in this new medium. I feel like being a publicly traded company prevents pivoting because of the focus on short term results.
- mechagodzilla 11mo agoKodak didn't really have the option to compete. Their business was largely film, which just disappeared completely, and even digital cameras got replaced pretty quickly with phones. There was nothing to pivot too for Kodak.
- fragmede 11mo agoWhat company does the digital camera sensor inside your phone come from? Why couldn't have that been Kodak?
- harrall 11mo agoKodak had digital cameras but it would 10-15 years before digital sensors would be good enough. But the film market collapsed in like 5-7 years.
- fragmede 11mo agoand some simple math says that 10-15 minus 5-7 still leaves Kodak in the lurch. But it's now 2025, and Kodak the corporation is still around, so I don't know that my supposition: Kodak would be doing better today if they'd gone all in on digital camera sensor technology, is disproven by that fact.
- ruined 11mo agocar manufacturers can afford to experiment - it's not like they don't have room in the budget. and they did experiment. if you don't know GM's history with electric cars: they were positioned to execute a successful transition about thirty years ago, but they simply chose not to.
- AngryData 11mo agoAs someone with a lot of family working in GM corporate, it seems like they were never really confident in it in the first place. So many of them scoffed at the entire idea of electric cars and most still do, even with their own lineup and having driven them themselves. They expected them to fail and never put in the actual effort to support it. It seemed like 80% of corporate were against it completely and without reason because they themselves were doing fine and could afford the gas on their free corporate car and massive discounted family purchased cars. And everyone below them fed their egos by spewing garbage about how well they are all doing with their high margin luxury trimmed cars without considering how they are pricing more and more people out of their entire brand each year.
- iamgopal 11mo agoThe small part in me understands that, they are banking on three things 1) oil will be cheap because of EV boom and hence EV dominance will be slow and could take couple of decades 2) electric Energy cost will rise significantly because so much charging and energy infrastructure required. 3) Battery will reach at par with gasoline and matured standardised comodity, that will be the perfect time to enter.
- rootusrootus 11mo agoI think #1 will probably play out to a certain extent. Perhaps as an oscillation between low and high as each wave knocks more gas stations out of business and refinery capacity offline. But I have to say, even low prices on gas won't make me go back -- I prefer my EVs in all regards to the ICE equivalents, with the sole exception of marathon (>450 miles per day) road trips, which is not my use case. I hope #2 won't be the future. It's not as easy to just jack up electric prices because EVs are charging, because they are regulated, and electricity is used for way more than cars (if my napkin math is right, on average people will use around 30% more electricity if they go full electric). I expect that as a practical matter #3 is here now, it just hasn't filtered down to retail car sales in the US yet.
- bryanlarsen 11mo ago> with the sole exception of marathon (>450 miles per day) road trips I've done 4 3000km road trips and intentionally took the EV leaving the ICE vehicle at home. It's a better car, and we need to stop to bathroom anyways, so charging isn't inconvenient. Saving a few hundred dollars in fuel is nice, too.
- gmueckl 11mo agoLong EV trips are possible amd convenient if there are enough chargers along the route. Sadly, this isn't the case on many routes in the US, at least. Europe is doing much better. I have no experience in other places.
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- indubioprorubik 11mo agoIt was a new race- and they where so comfortable having won the IC-race and customer base! Now everyone and his dog got a new chance to compete- and they just didn't want to do that. And now every advance in battery and solar, will drive them faster out of those markets. These are not detached technologies- one completes the other.
- Animats 11mo agoAlthough Ford's CEO now gets it, Ford's product line doesn't reflect it yet. Farley has been bringing a few sample BYD cars to the US, for Ford people to drive around and to take apart. Farley dragged his executive team to China to see a BYD plant. They came back scared. But what Ford actually sells is 1) an F-150 converted to electric, 2) a Ford Mustang converted to electric, and 3) a Ford Transit converted to electric. They're all more expensive, and heavier, than their gasoline-powered versions. BYD shows that electric cars are cheaper if designed properly from the ground up. The problem is that the US no longer makes many cars. Mostly giant trucks and SUVs. Hauling all that mass around requires a huge battery, resulting in 3-ton vehicles.
- denimnerd42 11mo agothe mustang mach e is a purpose built EV. not a mustang with a battery back stuck in.
- bastawhiz 11mo ago> a Ford Mustang converted to electric I agree with your comment, but I'll be a little pedantic for a minute: As a Charger Daytona owner, I'd love to call the Mach-E a mustang, but it's really just borrowing the brand. Ford has said unequivocally that they'll never make an all-electric muscle car, which is a real shame. The Mach-E is a great car if you're turned off by a Model Y, but you wouldn't choose it over a mustang GT or a charger Daytona or a Camaro.
- lostlogin 11mo ago> Ford has said unequivocally that they'll never make an all-electric muscle car What’s the thinking here? Pandering to some market segment? It sounds like they are organising the deck chairs in the titanic. Edit: I tried looking into the comment. It seems he was referring to Mustangs specifically, which is weird as they do make an electric one (assuming you agree it’s a ‘real’ mustang). I’m confused.
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- sofixa 11mo ago> 'we were too late, abort' What do you mean, the ID series for the main VW brand have 7 upcoming models over the next two years (4 for the Chinese market, 3 for everywhere). > all established brands we know are left behind I wouldn't go that far. The Renault 5 is one of the best selling EVs in Europe, and all the reviews are extremely positive (it's a fun and good looking car overall, and accessible). They have the 4 rolling out, and the small Twingo coming next year. They've also managed to narrow down the time from concept car to production at scale to less than 2 years (which according to the article on the topic I read is very fast).
- constantcrying 11mo ago>I never understood Volkswagen's pivot from 'wait and See's to 'were inversing billions' to 'we were too late, abort'. How is VW aborting in any way? They do not have a new ICE Platform, they are totally all in on EVs. Whether that will work out is of course another question, but it is bizarre to bring up EV when there is also Stellantis, who do not even have a dedicated EV Platform for their cars.
- reisse 11mo agoI thought Toyota is doing quite well in emerging markets? However they skipped a lot of EV craziness and just do cheap-and-reliable ICE cars. I also never understood why established brands lobbied for EVs, and not against them. They clearly had no edge over Tesla and Chinese brands, why compete on rival's field?
- lostlogin 11mo agoToyota hasn’t offered pure electric where I am, just hybrids. And they have only just started offering plug in models I can charge. I’d love a Corolla or Camri EV - I’m not sure what ‘the Corolla of EVs’ is considered to be.
- JojoFatsani 11mo agoIt’s the Model 3, or maybe one of the Hyundai/Kia small EVs.
- jeltz 11mo agoWV seems to do amazingly in Europe so not sure what you are talking about. It is Tesla thaumt seems to be leaving the EV market with no new exciting models and making the European market hate the brand. https://www.best-selling-cars.com/electric/2025-half-year-europe-top-electric-car-brands-and-bev-models/ https://www.best-selling-cars.com/electric/2025-half-year-eu...
- LunicLynx 11mo agoReuters disagrees https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/volkswagen-swings-13-billion-euro-loss-q3-tariff-porsche-woes-2025-10-30/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/volksw...
- hshdhdhj4444 11mo agoThat article says nothing about VW EV sales being poor in Europe. In fact it calls VW’s EVs increasingly popular. The losses seem to be due to a tariff hit in the U.S. and due to Porsche change in strategy to focus more on hybrids and ICEs (0possibky because they’re focusing on EVs through VW?).
- jeltz 11mo agoSeems to me like they largely agree. VW has issues caused by US tariffs and problems with Porsche but EV sales in Europe are growing and carries the rest of the company.
- rsynnott 11mo agoThat's related to one relatively minor subsidiary brand (Porsche accounts for about 3% of VW AG's sales), and it's a _weird_ brand for them, in that, whereas in a given size category the relevant SEAT, Skoda, VW, Audi etc are all pretty much the same, Porsches are quite distinct. VW as a whole is fairly committed to electric. Like, that article notes that their European EV sales are good.
- hshdhdhj4444 11mo agoLet’s not forget the Japanese who decided they didn’t want to compete in EVs because they couldn’t use that platform in some of their heavy machinery so decided to get the Japanese government to push hard on hydrogen, at a time Nissan was making a nice push in EVs, which led to Nissan having to back out of EVs as well.
- JojoFatsani 11mo agoDieselgate put VW on the back foot at almost exactly the wrong time in automotive history.
- rsynnott 11mo agoHuh? VW is the largest seller of electric cars in Europe. I'm not sure what makes you think they've given up.
- epmatsw 11mo agoTrivially substitutable goods, at a much lower price, with a now-reduced ethical difference. Not hard to see why.
- throw-the-towel 11mo agoEthical difference? This is South America we're talking about. The ethical difference has been working against the US this whole time.
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- billy99k 11mo agoThis is a result of over regulation in the auto industry. I always shake my head at the group of people that wants cheaper prices on goods and services, but propose regulating large companies to death. China is winning because they don't have to work around pesky labor or IP laws. Then we have people pointing to how much better they are at business and also want all these protections.
- happosai 11mo agoYou have no idea how regulated car business in China is... For example china is regulating the "innovative" Tesla style door handles.. https://carnewschina.com/2025/09/24/new-safety-requirements-for-vehicle-door-handles-released-for-public-comment-in-china/ https://carnewschina.com/2025/09/24/new-safety-requirements-...
- kattagarian 11mo agoWhile i don't doubt the chinese market is incredibly regulated, this car handle is a terrible trend started by tesla. Many cases were people couldn't open their cars because because it's eletronic was damaged. There is open investigations open in the US about the same thing too. If frozen, the thing becomes impossible to open too. And the manual handle inside is also known for being easily forgotten in cases of panic.
- Animats 11mo agoNaw. US labor cost per car is about $880 to $1250, from various sources.[1] China EV labor cost is around $550. That difference is less than what heated seats add in price. [1] https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2025/apr/why-automakers-must-focus-on-labor-cost-per-vehicle.html https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2025/apr/...
- paxys 11mo agoTesla was dead in the water when it became obvious that they couldn't make a sub-$30K car happen. They will still probably do well as a luxury brand, but China is going to fill in the demand for affordable EVs in the rest of the world outside USA/EU.
- toomuchtodo 11mo agoTesla got far enough for Musk to have the power he wanted and then gave up innovating and expanding. China will win the race, they have a third of global manufacturing capacity and already sell as many NEVs (battery electric and plug in hybrids) domestically as are sold in the US every year, while continuing to scale. https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3334300/chinese-ev-makers-step-gas-abroad-hedge-against-weaker-mainland-sales https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3334300... https://insidechinaauto.com/2025/11/01/live-blog-china-october-nev-sales-set-yet-more-records/ https://insidechinaauto.com/2025/11/01/live-blog-china-octob... https://www.byd.com/us/news-list/First-BYD-Electric-Vehicle-Rolls-off-the-Line-in-Brazil https://www.byd.com/us/news-list/First-BYD-Electric-Vehicle-... https://rhomotion.com/news/byd-announces-further-global-expansion-industry-update/ https://rhomotion.com/news/byd-announces-further-global-expa... https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-where-tesla-and-byd-make-their-cars/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-where-tesla-and-byd-...
- noosphr 11mo agoI don't think we've seen the end game yet. I have an electric cargo bike. During a kids party yesterday I ran 5 different errands with it while someone with a car managed to get stuck in traffic, not find a parking spot, and miss the whole thing. The only reason why cars are the size and shape they are is because ICE engines couldn't be made smaller. Electric engines on the other hand are small enough that I can have the chassis of a fully functioning car be light enough to lift by one man. I think we will see small, light weight and intrinsically pedestrian safe cars made of tubes and canvas replace the heavy monstrosities we have now.
- mike50 11mo agoThe Smart for Two existed with an internal combustion engine.
- SilverElfin 11mo agoIn Europe didn’t basically all brands take a hit? It was framed as Tesla falling behind but it’s more that Chinese EVs are so cheap, nothing can compete. Even within China the competition is insane, with over 100 car companies fighting to survive and giving out big discounts.
- EliteGadget 11mo agoIt isn't just Chinese EVs there are Korean brands on the road e.g. Jaewoo. https://jaecoo.co.uk/ https://jaecoo.co.uk/ I'm in the UK and the only new Fords I see are these huge F250/F350 which make my 4x4 (which is relatively small compared to a modern 4x4) look tiny.
- haunter 11mo agoYou managed to write the name wrong, Jaecoo not Jaewoo, and it's chinese not korean. On top of that it's a throwaway account.
- EliteGadget 11mo agoI mixed these brands up. Thanks for the correction. They (Jaecoo) opened a dealership 20 minutes from where I am.
- jeltz 11mo agoPretty sure they confused Daewoo with Jaecoo. But as far as I know Daewoo does not exist anymore.
- EliteGadget 11mo agoI confused Jae-woo (a Korean name) with Jaecoo. I think I must have mis-spelled the name when googling them after seeing the Dealership near me. However I do remember Daewoo, I don't think there many left on UK roads. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jae-woo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jae-woo
- Gualdrapo 11mo agoIt was announced a few days ago some models of Tesla are coming to Colombia at cheaper prices than BYD and the like and people here seems to be crazy about Tesla now. Time will tell how reliable they are on our poor roads. And that's one thing about EVs here in general - they are coming with no spare tire but a flat tire repair kit, which it's fine for small issues but may not be enough for the problems said tough roads can give to your tires.
- sofixa 11mo ago> It was announced a few days ago some models of Tesla are coming to Colombia at cheaper prices than BYD How could that be? At least Renault's low cost models (like the Dacia Spring, sold as Kwid in Latin America) are sold for cheap in various markets, and are competitive to BYD pricing in the EU and Latin America (enough that they're seeing serious growth there). Tesla doesn't have anything close, price wise, so how could they be competing on price with BYD?
- freddier 11mo agoColombians are asking that question too. My guess is that Tesla is selling them at a loss to compete against BYD. They may be sending unsold inventory from the US/Mexico market as well.
- weinzierl 11mo agoWhen I grew up in Germany it always made me proud that 100% of taxis were Mercedes Benz. If a car can withstand the rough demands of taxi service, it has to be good. And even in South America back then German cares were ubiquitous, especially Volkswagen. When I was in Brazil this spring[*] I rode a lot of Uber and they were 100% BYD - 100%, no exception. It's not that my head hadn't known that German auto was dead but seeing it playing out like this hit hard. [*] northern hemisphere
- IshKebab 11mo agoTo be fair taxis have unique requirements. Taxis in the UK were like 80% Prius for a long time because they drive very long distances and hybrids are very cost effective for city driving where you're doing a lot of low speed driving and don't have convenient recharging opportunities. But most people aren't in that situation. Still, I think BYD are kind of killing it.
- Tade0 11mo ago> But most people aren't in that situation. Those who commute from the suburbs actually save even more as hybrids achieve their lowest consumption going a steady 50-70km/h. Of course the same people could just get an EV and charge at home, but in terms of cost-effectiveness hybrids still win in this use case.
- ponector 11mo agoUnless you have a really cheap electricity at home (not like in EU) the best price per km has old Prius with LNG fuel. Also reliable, there are tons of them with 500k+ km on the clock.
- Tade0 11mo agoOver here LPG is the gas of choice and indeed taxi drivers regularly have that installed in their hybrids.
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- inthaiguy 11mo agoI wonder how many clicks Reuters get on "Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America - without Tesla" vs "Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America"
- surgical_fire 11mo agoI actually think that the fact that Tesla is not a factor in this growth newsworthy.
- FireBeyond 11mo agoWell, as Tesla fans like to remind people, the MY is or has been the most popular model of EV. So yeah, to see EVs in South America without Tesla is actually newsworthy.
- yosito 11mo agoAnd in Europe and in Asia. Last time I was in the US, Tesla looked like a scam.
- tcdent 11mo ago> Chinese brands There is far more to the logistics and adoption of this outside of "Tesla failed to capture the region" as the article's title eludes to. Bribery, government corruption, risky loans, undercutting. It is well documented in the case of large infrastructure projects and the same playbook will be revealed in time.
- kattagarian 11mo agothan it's not that different than american brands. In brazil, ford was heavily subsidized by the government for more than a decade. They bribed the politians and received back in subsidies. Their cars are also expensive and their engines known for being a weak and poor version of their US counterparts.
- jasonsb 11mo agoTariffs might keep Chinese EVs out of the US, but they don't stop US influence from fading everywhere else. South America is voting with their wallets, and 'buy American' doesn't work when the price is double and the tech is the same. Unless the US intends to sanction every country that prioritizes value over US geopolitics, this battle is already lost.
- surgical_fire 11mo agoIn South America there's also no anxiety over China becoming a superpower, which may be an argument against Chinese products in the US. In fact, China has pretty good relations with most South American countries. Likely better than the US. I wouldn't be surprised if many people view China more favorably.
- jasonsb 11mo agoThe average person in the west isn't losing sleep over China either. That anxiety is mostly manufactured by the media pushing the narrative that they are an existential threat. Maybe they are, I don't know. But what I do know is that western companies love it when they can sell you overpriced products made in China, but panic the moment chinese companies sell the exact same product at a fair price.
- dialectical 11mo agoHmm, I wonder if that might have anything to do with the decades of state sponsored terrorism the US has inflicted on the entire region since the 70s? Maybe it wasn't the best idea to make that "we will coup whoever we want" crashout tweet in between begging for crumbs of latam market share?
- cmxch 11mo agoThat won’t stop the US from practicing Monroe Doctrine to limit Chinese influence.
- surgical_fire 11mo agoGood luck. China is the most prominent trade partner for some South American companies. It would be easier to drop the US instead.
- LightBug1 11mo ago>> "Chinese brands gain legitimacy, challenging Western carmakers" Musk has been shaking around his political penis at just the same moment as the Chinese manufacturers came of age and are on course, now, to supplant Tesla completely. And the Tesla shareholders / BoD waived through $1t pay package as a reward. Dysfunctional Leadership writ large.
- ab_testing 11mo agoI feel like a lot of readers are missing the main point. US and European manufactures do not want to enter this low volume zero margin market. The total sales in Latin America (that includes Mexico and South America is around five million units - that is less than half of what is sold in the US each year. And at a price point of 20K it just does not make sense for American and European manufacturers given that their R&as costs are higher than Asian manufacturers and their North American models are too large and expensive for South America markets. In addition they know that the US is a captive market as the government will not allow Chinese companies to sell their cars here due to data and security concerns. So it does not make sense to chase tiny profits.
- 1970-01-01 11mo agoFake news? Seems like Tesla is doing just fine down there. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/byd-blows-past-rivals-tesla-173026678.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/byd-blows-past-rivals-tesla-1...
- protimewaster 11mo agoIs 152 out of 11,000 EV sales fine? It seems low.
- augusto-moura 11mo agoNop, not fake, being Brazilian I hardly see any Teslas, BYD on the other hand are everywhere. Brazil is not the whole South America, but it is the biggest consumer of EVs so far, also the largest market
- cultofmetatron 11mo agowas just at the mall down here in bogota colombia. they had a bunchof BYDs on display and honestly, they look much more compelling than what tesla is offerring these days.
- DeathMetal3000 11mo agoAnd it couldn’t have happened to a worse company.
- shermozle 11mo agoRecent Xpeng G6 purchaser: it's amazing.
- smetannik 11mo agoBasically same story like with smartphones