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Comment by sleepyguy | Hacker News Reader

The real story here is Australia and China. According to some auto blogs, BYD is destroying them in both markets.

Anecdotal but I just purchased an Atto3 in Melbourne. Tesla wasn't even considered after Musk's behaviour and the value for money that the BYD provides.

The reason I brought the Atto3 was after talking to 4 or 5 Uber drivers with them who swore by them.

Australia not having local car manufacturers really makes it easier for BYD, not having to worry about protectionist tariffs like in the US

yes, they taught us in school that Denmark, which makes no cars, had significantly cheaper cars than... oooh wait a minute, they got sucked into the EU which does make cars... is it still true? how is this handled by EC policy?

Denmark has companies making parts for car companies elsewhere in Europe.

I don't know the relative size of this industry compared to anywhere else.

Are you proposing that Denmark is a part of the EU because it does not produce its own cars?

Cars are incredibly expensive in Denmark (Not quite Singapore levels, but high). This, however, is more grounded in a cultural difference where walkable cities are preferred.

The US is incredibly car centric - to an extend where US trips can be directly read in my stress levels as measured on my watch. The US is so incredibly noisy and smelly.

>Are you proposing that Denmark is a part of the EU because it does not produce its own cars?

where did you get that idea from?

> ... they got sucked into the EU which does make cars.

Additional taxing is not handled in the EU. Cars are considerably more expensive in Denmark than Germany because taxes on cars are significantly higher in Denmar.

Anecdotally in New Zealand I have several neighbours with new BYDs. In my same neighbourhood there are two Teslas (Model 3) and both were purchased over 5 years ago. No one in their right mind is buying a Tesla in this market, and not because Elon is a twat (although he very much is). BYD is just better value.

The base model 3 and seal are about $10k difference in AU (not a huge difference in that price range) and the BYD is slower with less range.

Personally every time I've rented a BYD (only the Atto admittedly) I've found the UI to be awful. The two Android screens are often out of sync on key information, and the interior looks like it was designed by Homer Simpson making a "future car".

No one is buying the Seal, it's the Atto 3. And 10k is about a quarter of the price, I don't know what you mean by "not a huge difference in that price range".

Personally I don't think $10k is a massive jump if you're buying in the $40-60k range, but maybe my viewpoint isn't common.

Is it? They're doing well in AU, but still well behind Tesla[1].

1. https://evcentral.com.au/2024-australian-ev-sales-tesla-and-...

Article is from 10/24

Things haven’t improved for BYD since then.

I think BYD makes a great car for a great price, but Tesla is still outselling them 5:1

Wrong: https://www.drive.com.au/news/byd-revenue-tops-tesla-for-the...

It’s very obviously improving for BYD.

You said wrong, but then provided an article which backs up what I said? That Tesla is still outselling BYD by a large margin in Australia?

Are you confusing global revenue $ for Australia sales # ?

> Things haven’t improved for BYD since then.

You stated it wasn’t getting better for byd. From the article:

BYD revenues in Q3 (July to September) 2024 were 201 billion yuan ($AU42.85 billion) – a record high for the brand and a jump of 24 per cent over the same period in 2023.

More on byds ascent from earlier this year: https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/byd-s-hybrid-ute-jum...

Going from not having market to be the no. 6 best selling is by definition getting better.

So yes you are wrong and sales are improving for byd.

Geez dude, learn what context is instead of attacking strawman arguments you invented on your head.

Without any substantive argument you seem to be the one attacking strawmen. Learn to source your argument and present evidence or don’t come to argue. I’m addressing your points and you haven’t added anything of substance beyond stating what seems to be misinformed and unsubstantiated opinion as fact. Moving on.

You are quoting global revenue numbers, most of which is in China, to challenge the assertion that Australian sales numbers haven’t improved since 10/24.

If you’re going to try to correct someone, at least understand the actual argument that is being made instead of attacking strawman arguments.

The second link I posted is specifically from the Australian market. How becoming no 6 in 2024-2025 for a model selling is not “improvement” is logic I don’t understand. They shot to no 6 after not being in the market — that’s obvious improvement. Maybe your definition of improvement is not one I share. For clarification I’m not arguing against your claim Tesla outsells in Australia. I take issue with the unfounded claim they are not improving sales since it obviously is not true. That’s my bad I didn’t make that clear from the jump. That second article is just for the first two months of 2025 so again obvious improvement since 10/24.

That's less than 6 months ago, how recent a dataset do you want?

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