First Toyota electric sedan powered by BYD earns 5000 orders on first sales day It is a nice-looking car. I don't know the spec and details, but if it is a hatchback and priced similarly in the US, I would definitely consider buying it even without a fed tax credit. Would be a better fit for our current need than the very expensive not so great spec of bz4X.
not sure what to make of all that. beauty is in the eye of the beholder, too short on details, are they actually making these? where do the prices come from? they certainly wouldn't sell them for that here, but maybe the byd stuff is cheap
The article says it went on sale on April 16. Yeah, the car may not be as utilitarian as an SUV, but if it is available at a similar price as in China, I am sure there are buyers here. I would consider it very hard.
If those were the prices here, I would look at it as a replacement for our hycam, but we know that’s pie in the sky
It's between the Corolla and Camry in size. The CLTP test is a smidge more optimistic than the old NEDC.
This is a BYD basically. It is produced in China by a joint Toyota-BYD partnership. I very much would like to see this, or any of the BYD EVs sold in the US. Considering the lack of availability of Primes in the USA, I am more optimistic about seeing BYDs sold here than this joint Toyota/BYD.
High average annual household income is only around $15.5K over there in USD current exchange rate. Keeping in mind that they are usually multi-generational households living together, also skews the numbers. High density population structures, w/o parking space. You'll need to rent a parking space, assuming you can register and insure the car. It is truly a luxury item to own a car over there. On the flip side, mass transportation is mostly on-time and one can always hail a taxi or DiDi (Uber equivalent); but depending on time of day - the train will get you there faster than the congested roads. That car can't be "legally" imported here; doesn't meet NTSB specs. I've seen other BYD cars when I was over there; they were literally tin-cans. Won't survive a fender-bender. Most of the well-off people, I know, prefer foreign cars. VW, M-B, BMW, even Buick's, built a bit tougher and can withstand a crash better. BYD has been stepping up their game over the years, because they want to sell globally. They are learning from global players; ie. Toyota-BYD alliance.
The typical Chinese college educated professional makes well over $100k US. They do live in high rises but buy garage spaces, similar to US high rise homeowners. No annual property tax as well. Typically their company will also give a housing stipend but not health insurance since it is universal. So the same type of occupation here and there can afford similar vehicles.
Keep in mind also that, even with a low average or median household income, they can still have a "middle class" fraction that totals to be a huge number of people by U.S. standards.
