SHANGHAI : Elon Musk has said the only thing holding back electric vehicle sales is their price.China's largest EV maker unveiled this week the Seagull at the Shanghai auto show, shocking analysts and rivals with the car's specs: a battery range of more than 300 kilometers and a starting price of just over $11,000 – about a quarter of the price of most EVs now on the market in Europe.
But the Shanghai show and the Seagull highlight a related dynamic: Chinese automakers are now leading the world in making EVs that compete on price and technology for the average budget. “I think an attractive car for Chinese consumers will be an attractive car for a European consumer,” he told Reuters.
“If the overall user experience we can provide to European users is better somehow, we can establish our competitiveness,” Qin Lihong, Nio’s president said. “We can get our fair share.”Other established automakers are taking advantage of China's more competitive supply chain by exporting from China. BMW, for example, exports the iX3 from China to Southeast Asia and Europe.
But the biggest rise in exports is coming from Chinese automakers. China’s car exports grew four-fold between 2020 and 2022 to top two million vehicles. Exports of all vehicle types are on track to top three million vehicles this year if the first-quarter pace is sustained.