When will the West be able to compete??? The Xiaomi YU7

[67 Stang Convertible]

Here’s the Xiaomi YU7 pricing per variant:

• YU7 Standard: 253,500 RMB (equivalent to $35,300 USD)
• YU7 Pro: 279,900 RMB (equivalent to $39,000 USD)
• YU7 Max: 329,900 RMB (equivalent to $46,000 USD)

Variant	CLTC Range (km / mi)
Xiaomi YU7 (RWD)	835 km / 519 mi
Xiaomi YU7 Pro (AWD)	770 km / 478 mi
Xiaomi YU7 Max (AWD)	760 km / 472 mi
Tesla Model Y RWD	593 km / 369 mi
Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD	719 km / 447 mi

Every time I see one of these Chinese electric cars, especially reviewed by someone I trust, I can't help but feel envious, MAD and excited all at the same time. Will something like this be offered in the US by a United States Company in my lifetime at reasonable prices. I totally understand that we won't be able to compete with them on pricing.....(minimum wage, Gov't subsidies, US Unions, ect...).

But the tech is so far superior to ours it is not even in the same stratosphere! I dare you to watch the full video from Fred Lambert @ electrek (above) and see how you feel afterwords. Yes, they don't have FSD (like Tesla YET). But the rest of it is soooooo far superior to even Tesla's UI.

Anyway Ford, Chevy, VW, Kia/Hyundai & Tesla LFG!!!!! Silicon Valley, not sure what you've been doing the last decade but you're in Last Place from what I can see.

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[GreaseMonkey]

We are very far behind on all things manufacturing. Every time some idiot in the US suggests that AI or automation will help us bridge the gap I try not to laugh.

We suggested to the Chinese business in my company to nominate one of their plants as a World Economic Forum lighthouse they almost kicked us out of the room. They’re like: why would we allow some fuck up from Switzerland come copy our tech? We know we are The World’s Lighthouse and are not looking for westerners to confirm.

As someone who worked in manufacturing for 26 years, it pains me to see this. No, but tariffs will fix that. Sheesh

 

[HuntingPudel]

“Silicone Valley?” Not sure what the pr0n industry has been doing either. ??

 

[Fremont Kid]

Here’s the Xiaomi YU7 pricing per variant:

• YU7 Standard: 253,500 RMB (equivalent to $35,300 USD)
• YU7 Pro: 279,900 RMB (equivalent to $39,000 USD)
• YU7 Max: 329,900 RMB (equivalent to $46,000 USD)

Variant	CLTC Range (km / mi)
Xiaomi YU7 (RWD)	835 km / 519 mi
Xiaomi YU7 Pro (AWD)	770 km / 478 mi
Xiaomi YU7 Max (AWD)	760 km / 472 mi
Tesla Model Y RWD	593 km / 369 mi
Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD	719 km / 447 mi

Every time I see one of these Chinese electric cars, especially reviewed by someone I trust, I can't help but feel envious, MAD and excited all at the same time. Will something like this be offered in the US by a United States Company in my lifetime at reasonable prices. I totally understand that we won't be able to compete with them on pricing.....(minimum wage, Gov't subsidies, US Unions, ect...).

But the tech is so far superior to ours it is not even in the same stratosphere! I dare you to watch the full video from Fred Lambert @ electrek (above) and see how you feel afterwords. Yes, they don't have FSD (like Tesla YET). But the rest of it is soooooo far superior to even Tesla's UI.

Anyway Ford, Chevy, VW, Kia/Hyundai & Tesla LFG!!!!! Silicon Valley, not sure what you've been doing the last decade but you're in Last Place from what I can see.

The foundational question is not applicable. When will the West be able to compete? Why not also ask 'When will the rest of the East compete?' These questions are not indicative of which countries are producing which products, socialism vs capitalism vs hybrid of both.

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Ok, I will frame the question differently. When will the United States, Germany and South Korea be able to compete with the quality of hardware and software that is coming out of China in relation to the manufacturing of automobiles......I hope this reframing makes your very happy.......(insert rolling eyes emoji)

 

[Scooby24]

The best way to prevent us from having to catch up or be competitive is tariff the crap out of the competition so the consumers can't participate in that pesky concept called capitalism.

 

[Vulnox]

My issue with this discussion is assuming they are "so far ahead" based on a number of factors.

1. The software doesn't seem much more advanced than what Tesla has offered for years, and Rivian for that matter. If anything, a lot of the screens in that video seemed lifted from those vehicles. So I don't see anything that is blowing me away.

2. The prices quoted are NOT what they would sell for in the US, even aside from tariffs and that. This has been well reported. Those are chinese prices that people, intentionally misleading or not, just repeat as if that would be the case once they throw a currency conversion on there. Between setting up dealer networks (hugely expensive), service, training service, putting those dealers/service stations across the entire country, meeting US safety standards, and not getting the same preferential pricing some automakers in China get when selling for the Chinese market (similar to US tax credits for US sources batteries/vehicles), the costs would nearly double.

That would still make them cost competitive, for sure, but I so often see people acting like they are going to get a $19k vehicle that directly competes or beats a Mach-e. That's almost impossible unless the Chinese government just directly subsidizes the sales in order to kill the US auto industry.

3. The ranges quoted are typically hilariously overstated.

Below is one of the many, many examples of this. The CLTC ranges quoted by OP are significantly inflated from what are already often considered to be inflated numbers based on the US and European test cycles. EPA isn't on the comparison below, but WLTP is, which is what is used in Europe. Pretty significant difference.

From InsideEVs:
https://insideevs.com/features/3432...nflicting-ev-range-test-cycles-epa-wltp-nedc/

To get a sense of how the ranges of cars correlate under the different testing regimes, we looked at a number of cars sold in all of the main territories — US, Europe, and China — and compared their EPA, WLTP, and CLTC ratings, as well as a couple only sold in Europe and China. Interestingly, one vehicle is advertised on its website with a discontinued NEDC rating: the Xpeng P7.


The results were pretty eye-opening. The percentage difference between official range figures varied widely by automaker and sometimes also widely between models from the same automaker. The upshot is that there's not a reliable way to compare the test cycles with any precision.


As a rule of thumb, though, consider the EPA figure to be the most realistic, with only a few percentage points different from what one might see in real-world conditions. The WLTP figure to be about 22 percent higher than EPA, and the CLTC number about 35% higher than EPA. CLTC also appears to be a few percentage points higher than NEDC.



All that is to say, while the Chinese are definitely kicking some butt in the EV world, people seem especially quick to think they somehow have this secret sauce that has eluded everyone else. At some point I keep hoping logic kicks in for people and they realize that there is likely more to the story.


Whether it's subsidized costs by the Chinese government that are unrealistic for most any other country (and no, I don't just mean tax credits, I mean they in some cases get free electricity, water, land, etc, for their factories and development), or hilariously optimistic range rating systems. It's also easy to make a good looking UI that is quick, but how well does it work in five years? What components die? Yeah, yeah, I know there are issues with our vehicles too. But most of them will still be working in five or ten years. We need to see if these vehicles hold up even three years without significant repairs to a large percentage of their vehicles, and how well they stand behind it.

It's one thing to have a few people with issues that a Ford dealer is not responsive to fix, that sucks but it's not the typical story. It will be another thing if we get a flood of BEVs that are treated as disposable as most Chinese products are and they have no plan for support or repair in five years. No spare parts network or they have so many new models constantly coming out that nobody is able to work on your five year old EV because they have introduced two new BEVs that replaced it.

Maybe it will be great, but nothing in that video solves those fears, and I am more afraid of the people that just see some headline about an amazing new Chinese EV and just think they are getting exactly what's on the surface.

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

The best way to prevent us from having to catch up or be competitive is tariff the crap out of the competition so the consumers can't participate in that pesky concept called capitalism.

Greg, I hear you!! That being said; if you remove the tariffs our big 3 are sunk!!! How about a 7 year plan? 1st 7 100% Auto tariff and then 25%. I don't think we can be "Even Steven" with them since some of the things they do we are not willing to do. I would prefer to let our middle class have a decent wage and a good job than my car cost me $7000 less. Just my 2 cents.

 

[valeriol]

I want one !

 

[Bonehead]

According to the vlogger (with a French accent), the car has "hair suspension".

 

[Triggerhappy007]

Porsche Tycan Cross Turismo looks and performance for the price of a VW.

 

[ChrisO]

I don’t think most people know people know that the US has some of the lowest tariffs in the world, and that the tariffs are at the lowest they have been when taken over a timeframe like 100 years.

So, as I heard one politician say, using tariffs isn’t the problem, using them without any plan to help grow what is needed to obtain the the skills, factories, and infrastructure is the problem.

Not to mention helping the businesses that are adversely affected by the tariffs.

This is similar to how I feel about streamlining the government, it is a good idea if done with the proper forethought, it is terrible to let people that know nothing about the system rip and tear.

And I will say this about “free trade “, world free trade is a fantasy that has never existed. It is like how people want to categorize a country with one term, like capitalism. No country is pure anything. It is always a decision on just what mix of the different ways to do it.

We can no more rely on “free trade”, than we can go back to the “good old times” (which BTW weren’t all that good that the old memories think they were).

 

[MachEJoe]

Here’s the Xiaomi YU7 pricing per variant:

• YU7 Standard: 253,500 RMB (equivalent to $35,300 USD)
• YU7 Pro: 279,900 RMB (equivalent to $39,000 USD)
• YU7 Max: 329,900 RMB (equivalent to $46,000 USD)

Variant	CLTC Range (km / mi)
Xiaomi YU7 (RWD)	835 km / 519 mi
Xiaomi YU7 Pro (AWD)	770 km / 478 mi
Xiaomi YU7 Max (AWD)	760 km / 472 mi
Tesla Model Y RWD	593 km / 369 mi
Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD	719 km / 447 mi

Every time I see one of these Chinese electric cars, especially reviewed by someone I trust, I can't help but feel envious, MAD and excited all at the same time. Will something like this be offered in the US by a United States Company in my lifetime at reasonable prices. I totally understand that we won't be able to compete with them on pricing.....(minimum wage, Gov't subsidies, US Unions, ect...).

But the tech is so far superior to ours it is not even in the same stratosphere! I dare you to watch the full video from Fred Lambert @ electrek (above) and see how you feel afterwords. Yes, they don't have FSD (like Tesla YET). But the rest of it is soooooo far superior to even Tesla's UI.

Anyway Ford, Chevy, VW, Kia/Hyundai & Tesla LFG!!!!! Silicon Valley, not sure what you've been doing the last decade but you're in Last Place from what I can see.

I think some of the things coming out of China are comparable, but I don't trust these first look reviews. Its either the cars really are that good (Its China, think TEMU and Tofu Dreg and I have yet to see 1 single negative review ever) or more than likely, its the govt shilling cars.
In the mainland, there is a huge issue going on with these manufactures titling the cars themselves for a govt rebate, while claiming they sold the car. They pretend to put them on the 2nd hand market and they end up in landfills.
These cars that are being built have every corner cut to include defective/missing safety items like airbags.
The most scary part. Its China and no one cares, so they do end up selling these landfill cars to consumers.
Not saying that those are the cars they would be selling here, but the idea of purchasing from a company that is cheating the system this badly is a hard pill to swallow.

Bottom Line: They aren't far ahead. They just want you to think they are with gimmicks and straight up lying about the performance. This was a Chinese govt run exhibition

 

[Mr Card AMT]

When you can steal intellectual property from around the world without consequence, use slave labor, have no legal liability, and offer virtually no long-term service or support, it becomes very easy to undercut your competitors on price.

 

[Spacey]

Much as I hate to say the following comment I'm only reporting what I personally found on the day. Went to a local motor show recently where a variety of new cars were on display to look over and sit in but not drive.

The Ford stand did not even feature a Mach E on display. Had a look and sat in an Xpeng G6 (Not the 2025 model). The fit and finish of the interior trim was light years ahead of my Mach E. Not a squeak or creak from any of the plastic surfaces when pushed/prodded. The door cards in my car creak and squeak when pressed which translates into physical movement with noises when driving.

Seats in the G6 were very comfortable and supportive. Even the door closure sound was a solid thud instead of a metallic clang. Panel gaps were precise and even all round.

Starting price for Mach E in the UK is £59,390
Starting price for Xpeng G6 is £ 39,990

Read it and weep fellas...

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