News
GM’s Tiny EV Keeps Outselling The Tesla Model 3 In China
Wuling, General Motors (GM) tiny EV keeps outselling the Tesla Model 3 in world’s largest auto market, China.
The tiny $4,500 electric car is made by SAIC-Wuling-General Motors (GM) joint venture.
The four-seat Hong Guang Mini, known locally as Wuling, has a cruising range of 120 km (75 miles).
Wuling, the cutest EV that General Motors doesn’t sell to Americans is doing rather well.
1st Gear: I Am A Dumb Idiot Who Wants The Hong Guang Mini EV
GM sells an electric car combining mass-market pricing with unquestionable desirability. It just doesn’t sell in America. China, the world’s largest car market and the world’s largest market for electric cars, has been taking on Tesla in the sales race for some time.
Here’s an update from Car News China’s roundup of top sellers over there, and it’s still roundly outselling the much pricier Tesla:
This is not to say that the Tesla Model 3 is doing poorly by any means. Car News China’s Tycho de Feijter actually has a really wonderful roundup of Chinese-market aftermarket treats for the Model 3 on The Autopian, and Tesla has been busy with lockdowns in its factory base of Shanghai.
Still, it goes to show that GM can make a good EV, and it can sell well if GM makes it not only affordable (hi Bolt!) but desirable, too (hi … not the Bolt!).
2nd Gear: Re-Opened Shanghai Plants May Have To Shut Back Down Over Shortages
Speaking of shutdowns in Shanghai, their end may be slightly premature. Rushing to re-open closed factories has left them once again facing shutdowns because they can’t get any parts. From Bloomberg :
Even those companies in China whose factories are operating under so-called closed-loop systems might be forced to stop work due to parts shortages or logistical challenges that make moving people and goods around the country near impossible, a European chamber of commerce has warned.
“A few companies are running in closed-loop production now. Those companies are facing challenges and may shut down very soon due to lack of logistics and workers,” Maximilian Butek, chief representative at the Delegation of German Industry & Commerce in Shanghai said in a LinkedIn post-Monday. “Their workers for closed-loop production have been working for more than three weeks and need to be replaced.”
Butek added that most of his association’s members can’t “have production sites running since they cannot get raw materials delivered and cannot deliver their products to their customers. The logistics in Shanghai is not working.”
I am glad that I have a cushy office job that lets me largely work from home. That said, I got Covid a few weeks ago (not from work), my office just got a couple new cases last week, while my buddy in California who has worked with no interruptions in two different factories all through Covid has never contracted anything.
3rd Gear: Continental Says It Has To Restart Russian Factory Or Else Its Employees Will Face ‘Severe Criminal Consequences’
I can’t say I know what to make of this, from Reuters:
Continental said it has resumed production at its Russian plant in Kaluga to protect local workers who could otherwise face criminal charges.
“Our employees and managers in Russia face severe criminal consequences should we refrain from serving local demand,” the German supplier said on Tuesday.
Continental did not elaborate on the potential charges staff might face.
Continental claims that this is not a profit-based decision, something that for-profit companies do all the time.
4th Gear: Toyota Keeps Selling All These Dang Hybrids
Using up all your EV tax credits selling hybrids? That’s the Toyota Galaxy Brain at work. The Financial Times has a nice story on Toyota being almost too successful at selling hybrids:
Heavy reliance on hybrid models, which currently account for more than a quarter of Toyota’s sales, has given it an unexpected edge. Sales of hybrid versions of the RAV4, its top-selling compact SUV, rose by double digits, even as overall sales fell.
The main difference between a hybrid car and an electric car is that the hybrid combines a conventional combustion engine with an electric motor to power the car. Because they have two fuel sources, hybrid cars offer improved fuel efficiency.
