Comment by ricardobeat
11 hours ago
This take might have been true years ago, especially for cheaper makes, but modern EVs from china use high-quality components and designs that often surpass european automakers. The premium brands - Nio, Zeekr, Polestar, Lotus, etc - have design and R&D offices in Europe, and source parts from suppliers all over the world. Nio uses Nvidia Orin chips, Qualcomm SoCs, Brembo brakes, Bosch controllers, ZF suspension systems, Continental/Pirelli tires, and ClearMotion (in their flagship model); can't get any better than that.
The driving feel is definitely a thing, the chinese cars are very soft and 'boaty' which is not as desirable elsewhere. They are also on average much larger and heavier than their western counterparts, cities in China have road infrastructure built in the past 20-30 years with spacious lanes.
> have design and R&D offices in Europe, and source parts from suppliers all over the world. Nio uses Nvidia Orin chips, Qualcomm SoCs, Brembo brakes, Bosch controllers, ZF suspension systems, Continental/Pirelli tires, and ClearMotion (in their flagship model); can't get any better than that.
Exactly my point - if premium Chinese cars use Western components are built by Western robots, and designed in Western offices - that means the Chinese technological superiority does not exist.
As for their cars and roads being big - I don't see that as an upside, I have heard from many Chinese residents that the physical size of their cities means (most European cities are denser than Chinese ones) that navigating them becomes that much harder and painful.
Which lays to rest another myth about how China is light-years ahead of the West in urban planning , when in reality they have their own issues.