this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
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[โ€“] [email protected] 63 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The current swasticar overtaken by the former swasticar

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

Let's hope AfD does not become more popular so your sentence remains true

[โ€“] [email protected] 43 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Definitely go for the โ€œused to be naziโ€ company over โ€œcurrently a naziโ€ company.

[โ€“] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I guess if those are your only two choices, but the VW scandal is one of those things which should be completely unforgivable to any conscientious buyer.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Came here to comment basically this^^ Lying about your productsโ€™ emissions is some shady bullshit. There are other EVs worth investing in. Wiki linkie for anyone interested:

VW Emissions Scandal

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

There are other EVs worth investing in.

Trains, for example

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I almost bought one too, but something about the car (id7) didn't work for me. I hope they can improve it before my current car breaks down.

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Mostly a feeling, but I think it's due to the control/media systems being too complex. Too much stuff.

I absolutely hated that the car picked up something we said as its control words and told us that it didn't understand what we wanted. Bit of a dystopic moment, especially when it happened right when I was trying to figure out how to work the car.

That AI stuff just 100% positively MUST be opt-in.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Can't you just turn the keyword thing off?

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The first time I'm test driving it? Yeah I guess I could have if I had even known such a feature existed. I learned about it when the car started talking to me.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I mean I get that that freaks you out but as long as I can turn it off I wouldn't base a buying decision on this. But if the general vibe doesn't fit then it just doesn't fit, I get that.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

I would never buy a car that is "connected". In general I hate it when a device can listen for spoken commands. And I don't trust those opt-in/opt-out options, I don't think they all follow that setting, they just don't let you know/notice they still listen. (Call me paranoia, I don't mind ;) )

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

VW also has or had really poor security for their connected car data. So in addition to them selling your data to advertisers, hackers could access it for free

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Did this not happen before? Or was it just a few countries I remember reading about? I don't see how BYD won't surpass both in the next 10 years with the way investment has gone for China vs VW.

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think there a big brand trust gap with the Chinese brands that will take a while to close.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

There is also a big price gap, that gives people a big reason to care less about trust.

[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

According to What Car the price you can expect to pay in the UK is...

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

BYD sell the dolphin for about 10k in China. So they could lower the price a lot more, and the current price reflects more strategy and marketing than production and import duties

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They can't because a lot of that difference is down to import duties

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Mhhh, I can't find what the actual import duties are. The closest I found was this article https://www.whatcar.com/news/chinese-car-tariffs-will-not-go-ahead-uk-government-confirms/n27198 that suggest there is none (unlike in the EU, where the rate is 35%).

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Honestly, I knew there were European ones and assumed the UK had the same.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Glad for UK then, but this price is artificial in the sense that the UK gov asks for import duties etc to be sure BYD doesn't under cut European brands. If BYD manage to sell more dolphins than VW sells ID3's, than BYD is building a better car or has better marketing; that's good.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If BYD manage to sell more dolphins than VW sells ID3's, than BYD...

My point is I don't think they're going to get very far.

UK & EU place tariffs on Chinese cars to level the economic playing field between European and Chinese brands (a responsible use of tariffs in my eyes). So the economic incentive isn't there to choose BYD. Now it will come down to brand trust and car quality.

Even with dieselgate VW never lost it's image of building high quality cars.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

We'll see how this plays out, they both are sure trying to sell their cars.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The original cheap price is just as artificial though, as the Chinese government puts massive subsidies into its EV industry.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

That's true, I'm not saying it's unfair to artificially up the price with import duties, just wanted to point out price is also an important factor in people's decisions.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

VW will always have the advantage of being from Europe. Tesla's decline has shown how much politics can influence people's purchase decisions. I know many people wouldn't consider buying a Chinese car, myself included, even while acknowledging that they're pretty good from a technical perspective.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

So what's your reason for not buying one? In the U.S. I'm told because they'll all explode on command, or maybe that's just what my mother born in 61 thinks. I don't think she understands how money making works

[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I'd like to buy from democratic countries if possible, especially with such a large purchase. Not a huge fan of my money funding China's regime.

As for exploding on command, that's highly unlikely. Although it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for China to push a little OTA update that just turns all the cars off if we ever went to war against China.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

China doesn't allow firmware/software on their in country products. It's all reviewed by them. No reason why the EU, country or etc wouldn't review the same. No software/firmware update gets pulled without approval on the countries/ISP approval

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Of course it wouldn't arrive via an official approved update channel, but a backdoor. Easy to implement and hide when you write the software. Even VW put manipulated software in their cars before to fake lower emissions. Regulators didn't notice for a decade. That's even though it was being actively used, unlike a killswitch that would lie dormant until it's too late.

[โ€“] Kecessa 0 points 2 days ago

Have people not learned a lesson from what happened since the 80s? The middle class disappeared in big part because manufacturing jobs were sent to Asia. Want to see US and European carmakers close their doors as well to add more shit to the shit pile the neo liberals built?

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Byd dealerships are just starting to pop out of the ground. They are not in full swing in Germany, yet. Will be interesting when they fully ramp up their sales.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

In The Netherlands too, they run big billboard ads and tv commercial like all established companies do.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Cars are a funny thing, they tend not to be logical purchases