Quote:
Originally Posted by BIC_BAWS
I had a similar experience in Korea. EVs were all for ride share.. well all Kias/Hyundais and on occasion Dongwoos. Fancy panels and everything but NVH was pretty bad.. and dear god i thought the redeemers were bad here, but ubers are bad everywhere. Never have I been more car sick - it's like no one knows that they have to adapt to one pedal driving.
I did ride in two Staria's which were fantastic. The first one I was in the back seat and while it was very spacious - it was rough. Sitting on / past the rear axle is a very uncomfortable experience. In the other experience, I was expecting a Hyundai GV60 and the guy showed up in a blacked out Staria. That was an amazing experience. I had lie flat seats with the captains chain - heated/ventilated. I think there might have been a massage option but I don't remember. I passed the hell out on the way to the airport (90 mins). It was a great nap.
|
The Chinese EVs are probably at where Hyundai/Kia was in the early 2000s. They are reliable, can do 100k no problem but clunks and rattles galore at that stage, NVH and suspension tuning is probably there too.
There's room for improvement but not without putting some money into R&D and better quality components. That PHEV that Edmunds tested was 35k USD, but that's before paying for certification and reengineering for NA/Europe markets, adding more SKUs and software localization, taxes, setting up a new dealer network, etc.
Realistically, it'd probably land as a very well equipped 50k USD car if it comes if they don't want to lose money just to gain marketshare, and if they can get around dumping rules. The Highlander EV is rumoured to be coming in at around 50k USD and we get into a similar situation as when Hyundai/Kia was trying to gain marketshare by straight up under cutting in price for segment or segment+, or shipping with options as standard that would be optional or straight up unavailable with competitors.
This would be the third/fourth time this would happen if China EVs do come in NA, the first time was the Japanese (Toyota/Honda/Nissan), then it was Hyundai/Kia. Depends if you count Vinfast though they seem to have fallen off after the inital hype.