[dagw]

While their entry level car (Atto) is the same price as the cheapest spec Tesla model 3. Their Tesla model S and X equivalents (Han and Tang, respectively) start at almost half the price of the respective Teslas.

On the whole BYD don't seem to be wanting to compete at the bottom end of the market and are pricing their cars around the same level of their 'competitors'. They don't want to offer the cheapest electric SUV or even best the 'cheap' SUV, they want to offer best $80k electric SUV.

[jacquesm]

That suggests they aren't really competitors though, so either Tesla will have to drop to the point where they won't be profitable any more or there are substantial quality differences. BYD's vertical integration may become the differentiating factor if they can get the public to trust the brand.

[dagw]

Based on their marketing and pricing it seems their base pitch is "get a $100+k 'worth' of electric SUV for $80k". So they're competitors in the sense that they're targeting people who just about have Teslas Model X or BMW iX money, but would still like a bargain.

[jacquesm]

Interesting, ok time will tell how that will play out. Around me people are mostly rooting for MB/VW/BMW rather than American or Chinese. This is mostly a matter of perception and the dealer network and service organizations. Tesla has a very bad rep in that sense (though I do know people that have Tesla's too and they appear to be happy enough with their cars), it's all good as long as there are no problems and after that is a huge problem.

Polestar presents very well here, right now they have a better rep than Tesla which I find quite impressive, given that they are manufactured in China and sold by a relatively new sales organization. What is interesting is that somehow they've managed to sidestep the Chinese reputation issue completely and people perceive them as European, which they really are not.

[piva00]

> Polestar presents very well here, right now they have a better rep than Tesla which I find quite impressive, given that they are manufactured in China and sold by a relatively new sales organization. What is interesting is that somehow they've managed to sidestep the Chinese reputation issue completely and people perceive them as European, which they really are not.

I believe it's because Polestar attached itself to the Volvo brand, which is owned by Geely but is still run mostly independently in Sweden. The confusion is probably on purpose, and Polestar cars seem to be pretty good (from the reports of the few I know that own one).

[jacquesm]

> The confusion is probably on purpose

I have no doubt about that. They play it very smart, but that's kind of logical, Geely, the parent company has extensive experience in marketing vehicles of all kinds in the West and they have already learned a couple of good and practical lessons in not leaning too much on their Chinese parentage but instead to play local as much as possible.