Episode #118 - May Sales, Elon in China and Lei in California for VW

Tu and Lei talk May EV sales and Lei calls the top group BATL BYD, GAC AION, Tesla, Li Auto are clearly the front runners consistently outperforming the rest of their competitors, specifically NIO.

Tu and Lei also anticipate Li Auto to continue their strong sales with Tu spotlighting Zeekr to be potentially a future sales leader once the Zeekr X ramps. 

Elon, Tesla and China - The discussion moves over to Elon’s recent visit to China and Tu briefly reads an excerpt from this week’s newsletter that summarizes his take on Elon’s visit. Lei sees Elon and Tesla as an example of the better parts of the challenging US & China diplomatic relationship. 

Tu then compares and contrasts Nvidia’s need for the China market vs. Tesla’s need for the China market and how they differ quite substantially. 

The topic moves to BYD and its brand strategy as Yangwang and the F brand establish themselves in the next several years. They discuss whether it makes sense to launch a new brand and who it might work. 

Lei discusses why he’s in Cali and that’s to cover the ID.Buzz event. 

The pod closes with Tu and Lei discussing which EV startups are on life support and which should actually be able to weather the storm.