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Германия выделят деньги на китайцев | Xiaomi SU7 Ultra всё! | Lixiang закрывает салоны — Transcript

by Асафьев. Жизнь · 6,526 words · 1,022 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Good day, good morning, good evening.
0:02Come on in, have a seat. We are
0:04continuing to clear our backlog of news
0:05that was important to discuss over the
0:07past while, but we were just, you know,
0:09on break, and all that. So, on our
0:11agenda today, China is finally banning
0:14those flush, beautiful, designer door
0:16handles. This is a very important thing
0:18. We'll need to discuss it in detail.
0:20Germany suddenly decides to allocate
0:22money for Chinese cars. Although, what
0:24does Germany have to do with Chinese
0:25cars? We'll talk in detail about
0:27Volkswagen's sales report for 2025.
0:29There’s a lot to cry about there, but
0:31, damn, nowhere to laugh. And in
0:33Kazakhstan, the recycling fee is the
0:34other way around. Good afternoon.
0:47And let's start right away with the
0:49magic words. A prohibitive recycling
0:50fee for Russian cars is being
0:52introduced in Kazakhstan. You've heard
0:54the term "best practice" and that one
0:56should apply best practices. Well,
1:00Kazakhstan looked and thought, "What
1:02did they introduce over there? We’ll
1:05introduce it too." And they are
1:06introducing a recycling fee on imports
1:08into Kazakhstan of cars made in Russia
1:10and Belarus.
1:11Well, I'll be damned,
1:13thought the guys who were hauling a
1:14whole truckload of Russian-made cars to
1:16Kazakhstan. Yes, and what’s more, the
1:17actions are absolutely mirroring ours.
1:20I mean, it's all in millions of tenge,
1:22but if you do the math, you see the
1:23same familiar figures of several
1:25million rubles for passenger cars from
1:271 liter to 2 liters, up to 3 liters, a
1:29bunch of different categories. That's
1:32not the point. On one hand, it's a very
1:34logical move because, well, we are
1:36aware that after 2022, a number of car
1:39assembly plants opened in Kazakhstan.
1:41Well, Kia and Hyundai, for some reason,
1:43suddenly opened a little plant there.
1:46And a number of other enterprises also
1:48suddenly spotted some very interesting
1:50potential in Kazakhstan. So, a number
1:52of facilities had to be opened there.
1:54But at the same time, we are all part
1:56of the Eurasian Economic Union, the
1:58EAEU—you might have seen that acronym
2:00. So, supposedly, within the EAEU,
2:02between the member countries of this
2:04union, there shouldn't be any, well,
2:06direct tariffs or taxes. We are
2:08supposed to have a single unified space
2:10. We help each other develop production
2:12, kind of like globalization, but on a
2:14small level—a mini-globalization
2:15within our borders. But at the same
2:18time, duties, fees, and additional VAT
2:20are still actually being collected. And
2:22so, if you, relatively speaking,
2:23assemble a car in Kazakhstan, it is
2:25impossible to bring it to Russia for
2:26free. They will take a lot of money
2:27from you at customs. So Kazakhstan,
2:29logically protecting its own production
2:32, is now also imposing a recycling fee
2:35on its side. It's simple: if you leave
2:38the current situation as is, with a
2:40recycling fee only for Russia on car
2:42imports, then as soon as it's possible,
2:44those manufacturers with plants in
2:46Kazakhstan will just dismantle their
2:48facilities and move them across the
2:50border to serve everyone, since there's
2:52no recycling fee there. So even though
2:57we have agreements, unions, economic
2:59aid, and various duties removed, at the
3:01same time, here’s a recycling fee for
3:03you, and another one for you. And this
3:06will continue in exactly the same way,
3:08simply because the market must have
3:10countermeasures. Simply because we are
3:13under sanctions and we need to defend
3:15ourselves, our state is following this
3:17strategy. Well, there will be similar
3:19strategies in response. It’s not as
3:21if any of our factories are currently
3:23feeling very depressed. They just need
3:24to get started first before they can
3:25even start feeling depressed.
3:27I mean, a Lada will cost you three
3:28horses in Kazakhstan. Nice.
3:39Volkswagen Group sales in 2025. Skoda
3:42reached a million. Bentley is in the
3:44red. Failure in the US and China. To
3:47briefly break down Volkswagen's entire
3:49report, which is actually not yet
3:51complete, they say their report comes
3:53in the spring, where they will publish
3:55financial results and updated sales
3:57volumes. Right now, the available
3:58volume is only an estimate, but that is
4:00always the case with all automotive
4:01companies. So, for January, we are
4:03tallying approximate figures, and we
4:04will show you the exact ones in the
4:06spring. But even looking at these
4:09approximate figures, in short,
4:10everything is down, everything is bad.
4:13But there are nuances. And if we take
4:15the Volkswagen brand itself—not the
4:18VW Group, but Volkswagen—it's down
4:201.4%. And Audi is down 2.9%. Bentley is
4:25in the red for the third year.
4:27Consistent, for what it's worth. Maybe
4:29they just need to come up with one more
4:31luxury electric car, and then
4:32everything will definitely take off.
4:34Trucks are down by 8%. Porsche is the
4:37biggest loser at -10%volume
4:39year-over-year. But in the headlines,
4:42and internally, Volkswagen says: "Look,
4:44Skoda grew by 12%.""And the growth
4:49isn't negative, it's positive, plus 12%
4:52, everything is great.""And at the end
4:56of 2025, we sold approximately
4:581,043,000 cars.""Just don't scroll back
5:02and look at the fact that we sold
5:031,250,000 in 2018.""The most important
5:05thing is that it's a 12%year-over-year
5:07increase across the total portfolio of
5:09brands." Lamborghini is an absolute
5:12record. Six cars more than last year.
5:18Seat Cupra + 5%. Well, that's the
5:21combined brand of Seat and Cupra.
5:23Though, the total volume there is about
5:25half a million cars. And this isn't the
5:27brand that can generally support the
5:29entire parent company. Plus, it's
5:31strictly tied to VAG platforms and so
5:33on. So, sure, you can highlight this
5:36growth, but overall, Seat doesn't
5:38really affect much. And a very proud 32
5:41%growth in electric vehicles. Plus 32%,
5:46they sold 983,000 worldwide. True, with
5:51the nuance that in the Chinese market,
5:54which Volkswagen was aiming for, wanted
5:57, and built its entire strategy around,
6:00we have -44%year-on-year. Slightly
6:03deflated, just a bit. That accounts for
6:06about half of the company's sales. Yeah
6:09. And naturally, there's no sign of any
6:12proud recovery there. The road to the
6:15States is murky in this new reality.
6:17And, in essence, only Europe remains
6:19for the brand. Well, from the
6:20perspective of electric vehicles, yes,
6:22and generally in terms of future sales,
6:24new generations, new cars, things like
6:26that. But the nuance is that the group,
6:29first of all, was counting on
6:31completely different sales figures. If
6:33we talk about electric vehicles, they
6:35proudly show off that they have growth,
6:36a surplus, and that everything is fine.
6:38But the initial business model was
6:40based on completely different numbers.
6:41Sales were supposed to be several times
6:43higher. Everything was supposed to be
6:45fine in China, even better in Europe,
6:47and great in the States as well. Yeah.
6:50But secondly, and most unpleasantly,
6:52the company's global problem is that
6:55they have no ideas and it's unclear
6:57what needs to be done to reverse the
6:59trend. This is most visible with
7:01Porsche. Well, because -10%year-on-year
7:04for Porsche is a lot. I mean, it might
7:07seem like 5%, 7%, 10%, no, a 10%decline
7:10in the modern automotive business is a
7:13lot. A lot. And all their previous
7:16development, which was conducted for
7:18several years, is no longer relevant;
7:19it's clear from here that the numbers
7:21just won't add up. There's no money, no
7:23opportunity to invent anything new. The
7:27entire model lineup is old and
7:28uncompetitive, and you can only rely on
7:30the brand, on past merits, and some
7:32sense of former glory. We, remember,
7:35back there with traditions, well,
7:38something like that. But if we take the
7:41entire VAG brand portfolio, it's
7:44unclear what to do and unclear which
7:46market to aim for. In the States, the
7:49situation right now is literally
7:51changing every day with tariffs, duties
7:53, and so on. It's clear that hybrids
7:56are the future, the future belongs to
7:58hybrids, but VAG doesn't really have
7:59any competitive hybrids. They bet
8:02everything on electric vehicles and
8:04they screwed up. They don't have proper
8:06software, nothing works right, and they
8:08lack a decent platform. And even if you
8:10take an old car, it was already old
8:12five years ago, so repacking it in a
8:14new shell now just doesn't work at all.
8:17And yet it’s clear that VAG is still
8:19the second-largest in the world. 8.98
8:21million vehicles is still a result. And
8:25in fact, from the perspective of just
8:26sales, just the sales figures, the
8:28situation isn't fully clear. We need to
8:30wait for the financial report to see
8:32how dramatic things are, because raw
8:34sales volume might not actually show
8:36you anything. It could easily be less
8:38than last year. But let's assume,
8:41suddenly, maybe, I hope, the group has
8:44worked internally on its own efficiency
8:46. They have these plans to cut
8:49production, reduce staff, trim some
8:52expenses, cut some R&D, and roll some
8:55things back, so to speak. Yeah. And
8:58perhaps at this moment, it's already
8:59bringing them some profit, and they are
9:01, well, at least making money. And
9:02maybe VAG has the cash that can be
9:05poured into some new wonderful idea.
9:07We'll be able to understand everything
9:08for sure when they release the 2025
9:10financial report. It will be very
9:11interesting to see. And we will
9:12definitely discuss it. Internal news
9:18segment. A gentle reminder that we have
9:20Boosty and our separate private
9:22Telegram channel. They appeared 2 years
9:24ago. Well, the Telegram channel
9:26appeared a bit later. Boosty originally
9:27appeared about 2 years ago. I initially
9:29wanted to create a small corner where I
9:31could legitimately and justifiably sit
9:33for an hour or an hour and a half and
9:35whine about how this is my schedule,
9:37this is how I approach my schedule, how
9:39I approach finances, and how I approach
9:41personal efficiency. These are the
9:43regulations, these are the rules. And
9:44just vent my own thoughts on how I
9:46actually relate to life. Because here,
9:48within the news content, it’s not
9:49always appropriate. It often drags on
9:51too long. Because of this, the news
9:53episode itself suffers, since we sit
9:54here for 40 minutes rambling about how
9:56I live by a stopwatch, and then discuss
9:58only two news items, and that’s it.
9:59And in the end, people are like, "
10:01Where’s the news?" And there was no
10:02news. That’s the news for you. And so
10:04, based on those thoughts two years ago
10:05, we created a platform. I thought I
10:07would just talk there, vent a little
10:09bit, and everything would be great.
10:12We’ll make five videos there, sweet.
10:15As it turns out, at the moment we
10:17already have 74 pieces of unique
10:18content there. A separate community of
10:21its own has already formed there. It
10:23turns out I’m not the only sick
10:24bastard like this. There are a lot of
10:26interesting-minded people there. And
10:28right now, at the moment you are
10:29watching this video, a series of videos
10:30about how I worked myself into the
10:31ground in '25 to the point that I don't
10:33want to work is already nearing
10:34completion. I finally found that line
10:36where you just end up face-down on the
10:39floor and can't get back up. At the
10:41same time, I also hit a personal
10:42creative crisis and how I got out of
10:44all that. We have a separate video
10:46describing this whole process. Based on
10:49sensations, on emotions, how it looked
10:51from inside my own head. Because, again
10:53, noticing from inside your own head
10:54that something is wrong is actually a
10:56difficult task, because it always seems
10:58to you that everything is fine. "Wait,
11:00I'll just finish a little more work,
11:01and everything will be okay.""Just one
11:03more week will pass, I'll go on
11:04vacation, and everything will be normal
11:06." Or "the deadline will pass, the
11:07project will end, and everything will
11:09be fine." Then there are separate
11:12videos on how I gradually climbed out
11:14of all this in terms of fixing my sleep
11:16, fixing my physiology, and fixing my
11:18daily routine. And exactly by the time
11:20you watch this video, there is already
11:22a one-and-a-half-hour conversation with
11:23a psychiatrist sitting there. A very
11:25sad one, after which you’re just like
11:27, "Yeah..."...you want to stare at the
11:30wall for a very long time. And so it
11:32turns out that just on this topic alone
11:33, there is already over an hour of
11:35content. A lot. Plus, there’s all the
11:38old content regarding personal resource
11:40models, you know, regarding time, money
11:41, skills, and social capital. An
11:44interview with Konstantin Sergeyevich
11:46regarding his work principles, about
11:47how he builds his business processes,
11:49and we really don't see eye to eye on
11:50things—sometimes we agree, and
11:51sometimes we strongly disagree. My
11:54personal thoughts regarding investments
11:55, well, and much more. So come on in,
11:57take a seat, we are waiting for you
11:58there. And don't forget to use the
12:00community, because you can often find a
12:02lot of useful insights in the comments
12:04and discussions inside. Meanwhile, in
12:10Russia, they will allow paying for
12:12parking in a few days. It's about time.
12:15What else can I say? Germany will
12:19extend subsidies to Chinese electric
12:23vehicles. I read this headline too,
12:26it’s like they just hit you with a
12:28headline and you're like, wait. You in
12:31Europe were putting up those protective
12:34barriers. Saying that under no
12:36circumstances can we let this, you know
12:38, soy sauce stuff in. No, we can't. We
12:41need to protect our market. The Chinese
12:43are shoving their cheap electric cars
12:45into our country, and into the EU in
12:48general, ruining our market, ruining
12:50our models, we have jobs, we need to
12:52protect our factories, and then
12:54suddenly they are like: "We want to
12:56allocate 3 billion euros by 2029 for
12:58support, for subsidies, depending on
13:00your income, your financial situation,
13:03families, children, and so on." In
13:05short, from 4 to 8,000 euros and so on.
13:08And we will gradually heat up the
13:10market. Helping to sell electric
13:11vehicles specifically. And we don't
13:13care where the car is produced. It
13:15doesn't matter, whether it's within
13:17Europe, Chinese, Taiwanese, American,
13:19no difference. Any electric vehicle,
13:21government support applies. And at that
13:23point, my authority is done. I...I...I
13:27don't know, I hope that they really
13:29know better. And I really hope there is
13:32some sound logic there, and not just a
13:34desire to cash in one last time on the
13:36electric vehicle theme. Because I, well
13:39, I can't think of why the hell you'd
13:41call a necromancer to a corpse. In late
13:442023, Germany canceled the subsidies,
13:46crashing the entire market. Sales just
13:49plummeted immediately. At first they
13:51jumped up significantly because, you
13:53know, people had to catch the last
13:54train to grab this wonderful stuff.
13:57Then, naturally, sales hit the floor,
13:58and that was it. After that, the market
13:59never recovered. In Germany, up until
14:01the point they brought the subsidies
14:03back, no matter what kind of support
14:04they offered. Everything is very bad.
14:06Like, really, really bad. And it's
14:08already obvious that...well...it won't
14:12take off. The whole thing just won't
14:15take off. The battery is dead. That's
14:17it, enough is enough. But the officials
14:20, yes, that's it, we will keep
14:22supporting it. At the same time, we
14:24have no doubt that our European cars
14:27are competitive in general, everything
14:30is fine with them; we have quality, and
14:32we will win this competition. We won't
14:35mention the fact that we'll just slap a
14:3730%tariff on Chinese ones. There you go
14:39. And they still won't be competitively
14:40priced in the market. I mean, they
14:42might be competitive within our market,
14:43yes, but you'll have an extra 30%tariff
14:45added to the price of the Chinese ones.
14:47Maybe they calculated it somehow to
14:49even out, who the hell knows, but point
14:51zero, I hope they understand what they
14:53are doing. Second. Point zero. Where is
14:57their head? The mathematical one.
14:59That's the first thing.
15:00Yes, I, I, yes. One. And the first
15:05point is the best proof that the
15:07electric vehicle market is
15:08unsustainable. It cannot survive
15:09without monetary stimulus. Without
15:12subsidies, without just printing and
15:14burning money, or burning taxpayers '
15:16money, it simply cannot, it's not
15:18possible, it just doesn't work. There.
15:21And yet, these guys are now trying to
15:23resuscitate a corpse. Why, I honestly
15:24don't understand. Well, there's
15:27probably a theory that they already
15:29have some production capacity, a
15:31certain number of jobs, we've already
15:34spent huge amounts of money, there are
15:36huge investments, and there's no
15:38turning back now. And with the current
15:41trend of very lackluster sales, it
15:43seems better to allocate some three
15:45billion euros, spread them out over the
15:47years, just so people buy these things
15:49somehow. By the way, there are some
15:52funny conditions there too; not only do
15:54families with one child get one
15:55discount and families with two children
15:57get a larger discount, but you have to
15:59own the electric car for 3 years if you
16:01use the subsidy, you can't sell it.
16:04Suffer, you bought it, so drive it. Why
16:10? Well, probably just so that the Turks
16:12, who in Germany, by the way, are
16:14heavily involved in the used car
16:15business, don't buy them. So they don't
16:18buy the electric cars and ship them off
16:20somewhere to their home country or
16:21another country, to Romania to be
16:23dismantled, I don't know, well, like,
16:25just drive it for 3 years, use the
16:26infrastructure. We didn't build
16:28everything for nothing, we buried a ton
16:30of money—your money, by the way,
16:31which you didn't ask us to, but we did
16:33it anyway. Use it. Done. Meanwhile, the
16:40new Mitsubishi Pajero will be released
16:43this year. I never thought I could get
16:45so excited about news regarding the
16:47Pajero, because, in theory, nobody in
16:49the Pajero owners' club gives a damn.
16:51Well, give or take a mile. But the news
16:54, actually, is quite interesting,
16:56because look at the point. Pajero, in
16:58one form or another, as a brand or a
17:01car, has existed since 1976. And in
17:042021, they killed it off, based on a
17:06few ideas. First: the current car is
17:09outdated, objectively outdated. We’ve
17:11been making it for a long time, for
17:12like 15 years already. Screw it,
17:14let’s bury it. And developing a new
17:16car is expensive, and in the context of
17:19an electric future, which turned out to
17:22be a real electric future since 2021,
17:24nobody really cares about a
17:26body-on-frame, or an integrated-frame,
17:29diesel or gasoline, mid-sized Japanese
17:32SUV. And, accordingly, since we need to
17:35develop a new car, since we need to
17:37sink a huge pile of money into a car
17:39that, in theory, nobody will need,
17:41let’s just cancel it. The fact that
17:45there is an audience and fans, nobody
17:48gives a damn. And the fact that in a
17:51large number of markets where
17:53Mitsubishi is already present, there is
17:55demand and it should be done. And if
17:59you can manage to make it cheap, then
18:00great, go for it. They didn’t care
18:02about any of that at all. And they
18:04didn’t comment at all on the fact
18:05that we decided, you know, to somehow
18:07take a fresh look at things and develop
18:09something new. No, we just get a sudden
18:11"hello there." Some leak in the media
18:14that a large SUV from Mitsubishi is
18:16being tested. And it’s logical that
18:18the media assumes this is the new
18:20Pajero.
18:21Well, it actually looks really good.
18:23Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Doesn't even smell like
18:27that "Chinese-style" design,
18:28which is a double surprise for
18:30Mitsubishi
18:31and for Pajero. And there’s already
18:34speculation that it’s for Southeast
18:36Asia, Australia—somewhere over there.
18:38Obviously, they won't roll it out
18:40worldwide just yet, but this is a
18:42wonderful news hook, which actually
18:44shows that the company is changing its
18:46approach, its decision-making logic,
18:47and its model launch strategy. If back
18:51in 2021 they seriously believed that a
18:54brand that has existed for 30-something
18:57, or even 40-something years had no
18:59future and had to be killed, which
19:02means burying all the effort spent on
19:05promoting Pajero as a global brand. And
19:09that making a new gasoline generation
19:11is such a failed idea that it’s not
19:13worth the effort, and now it turns out
19:15that it is worth it after all. This is
19:18a very important change, I think, again
19:21, from my sofa. Maybe I'm just biased,
19:24thinking, "When, oh when, will gasoline
19:26cars go away?" But nevertheless, the
19:29news feed shows that the
19:30decision-making model within big car
19:33companies is changing, and that is
19:35magnificent. Meanwhile, Mazda has
19:41discontinued their latest rotary model.
19:44And it took them so long to realize
19:46that there’d be no "zoom-zoom" with a
19:48pure rotary, only
19:50that they discontinued
19:51their last rotary model.
19:53And which one was their last rotary?
19:54Some small crossover, I think.
19:56Well, I'll be damned. I thought they
19:58were done with rotary when they
19:59finished the RX-8. No, no, no, no, no.
20:02They were trying to develop hybrids and
20:04just regular cars, too. Well, like,
20:06they really believed in the rotary, I
20:08think, even still. It was right with
20:12let me pull up the source. Exactly.
20:14Do-do-do-doo-doo-doo-doo...Where are
20:24you, MX-30? Ah, there was a hybrid
20:29version.
20:32First time I’m seeing this. Well,
20:34it's small. This one right here, this
20:36one.
20:37Uh-huh. Well, they discontinued it, so
20:39be it. Well, serves them right.
20:41Oh, no, sorry, they discontinued the
20:44pure rotary version, but the hybrid one
20:46is still around.
20:48Uh-huh.
20:49Well, let's wait and see.
20:54Good news everyone. An article came out
20:57in Top Gear about how Dacia won the
20:59Dakar. Yes, no jokes here, in case you
21:00were wondering. Dacia actually won the
21:02Dakar. Nasser Al-Attiyah becomes a
21:04six-time Dakar champion. And he’s an
21:06absolutely unique character, beyond
21:08just his name. Not only is he a
21:10six-time Dakar Rally champion, he's
21:12also a three-time World Rally-Raid
21:14champion, two-time World Rally champion
21:16, and a participant in six consecutive
21:19Summer Olympics because he’s also a
21:21shooter, and he even won Olympic bronze
21:24once. Anyway, in this buggy from Dacia,
21:27by the way, the model and crew sound
21:29quite funny, with Dacia and Nasser...
21:32you know, like "Dacia-Nasser," like you
21:34haven't been to the dacha in a long
21:37time, you show up, and someone's "
21:39Nasser-ing" there. Those are our jokes
21:42for today.
21:46Ah,
21:46anyway, in this buggy, the guys beat
21:49Ford, beat Toyota, beat Carlos Sainz
21:52Sr. and Sébastien Loeb. And that is
21:54what we’d like to congratulate Dacia
21:56on. Magnificent, guys. They really
21:58built a car in a year or two, showed up
22:00, and wiped the floor with everyone.
22:02And the only sad thing in this
22:03situation is that Renault seems to be
22:05shutting down all its racing divisions.
22:07Again, it’s not confirmed for sure,
22:09but there are rumors everywhere that
22:10Renault might just take and shut
22:12everything down. They started by
22:14pulling out of Formula 1, saying "
22:15Alpine isn't getting results there,
22:17let's just leave." And rumors are
22:20swirling that they might pull out of
22:21WEC too, even though they’ve achieved
22:23some very serious success there. Oh,
22:26and by the way, Land Rover in the stock
22:28category—there's a separate category
22:30like that in Dakar—came in first and
22:32second place right away with their
22:33Defender. They just took it, built the
22:36car, entered the race, and won right
22:39off the bat.
22:39They even put it into production, as
22:42far as I know, for some crazy money.
22:45It has some clever name. That’s never
22:47happened before either.
22:48Yeah. Yes.
22:49How did they even think of that? I have
22:52no idea.
22:53Stanislavski was watching.
22:54Yes, exactly, exactly.
22:59Meanwhile, Volvo has introduced the
23:01EX60 electric car with a range of 810
23:04km. First of all, on paper. Right.
23:07Secondly, they had no other choice.
23:08They introduced it because it’s
23:10already obvious, even to Volvo itself,
23:12that they are heading the wrong way
23:14with electric vehicles. Polestar has
23:16been on death's door for a long time,
23:18and Volvo is still holding on, but
23:19it’s heading in roughly the same
23:21direction. Besides, with this new one
23:23—if you look at the car seriously—
23:25the hybrid version costs 57,000 euros,
23:27and the electric one 63,000 euros. How
23:29they plan to sell the electric one is
23:32unknown. Right. And, by the way, we
23:34were just discussing in this episode
23:36that they reported a 32%increase in
23:38electric vehicle sales, but for Volvo,
23:40the year-over-year result is -13%.
23:43Considering they bet everything on
23:45electrification—on this "electric"
23:47push—thinking everything would be
23:49fine, it didn't work out. And the press
23:52release for the car lists all the
23:54standard pluses. Look, we have this
23:57range. Oh-oh-oh, we saw on the internet
24:00that it’s very trendy, so we have
24:03some built-in AI that, if you need it,
24:06goes "hop" and gives you a tip, or
24:09plans a route, or just does everything
24:11with AI. And down the list: convenient
24:15trunk, convenient options, convenient
24:18everything—but the problem is
24:20something else entirely. Of course, we
24:23won't jump to conclusions; we'll wait
24:25for the sales figures, and then we'll
24:26roast the whole thing. I think this
24:29won't take off either, just like all
24:31the previous electric efforts from
24:32Volvo.
24:33Have you ever even seen an electric
24:35Volvo on the roads in Moscow?
24:36Yes.
24:37I’ve never seen one.
24:38I have. Well, those are some special
24:40people, I guess, "alternatively minded.
24:42"
24:42They are very interesting people. I
24:44mean, well, buying a Volvo in today's
24:46world, that makes you an interesting
24:47character. There was a period in our
24:50country when Volvos and Saabs were very
24:53popular, but that was the nineties;
24:55they had a good market share,
24:57everything was cool and wonderful. In
25:00the modern world, to go and seriously
25:02buy a Volvo. On one hand, it’s a
25:05strange move. On the other hand, the
25:08gasoline XC60 and XC90 are magnificent
25:11cars. Specifically, the XC60 is a car I
25:14considered for my own family some time
25:16ago, because compared to its
25:18competitors, it costs significantly
25:20less. And we at Autoprogramat pick them
25:22out very often, by the way. And it’s
25:23a decent car. For the XC90, a two-liter
25:26engine is a bit small. A bit small. But
25:29the XC60 is a blast. Plus, Volvo has
25:32its own special approach to a car, to
25:34how it’s designed and how it’s made
25:36. Volvos are truly different cars. If
25:38you've driven one, you understand what
25:39I’m talking about. And I personally
25:41find the company’s approach to how
25:43they build a car very relatable and
25:44understandable—it’s really cool. I
25:46mean, they are just genuinely cool cars
25:48. But when it comes to electric
25:50vehicles, like everyone else, the guys
25:52are going all in, and for no good
25:53reason, it seems to me. But they had no
25:55choice because they were bought out by
25:57the Chinese. Whatever the party says,
26:00goes. Meanwhile, Bugatti has unveiled a
26:06revived Veyron. The car is from 2003,
26:10mind you, and they’ve shown this
26:12version, look, in a modern
26:14interpretation with a two-tone body and
26:17a slight restyling. They built only one
26:20car, naturally, and they built it in
26:23honor of Ferdinand Karl Piëch. Yeah.
26:26And his initials are there because,
26:27thanks to this man, this car appeared
26:29back in the day. Naturally, it goes
26:31without saying that underneath it’s a
26:32modified Chiron, because no one is
26:34going to resurrect the Veyron—that
26:35would require reviving the whole
26:36factory, and that’s very expensive.
26:38So they took a Chiron, gave it a little
26:40facelift, and they say they built just
26:42one car and supposedly sold it to some
26:45very important client. There are rumors
26:47in the media that the car was sold for
26:4910 million euros. And one can only say
26:51that, well, someone got lucky. It looks
26:54exactly like the Veyron. They only
26:56changed the nose, or the headlights, to
26:58be precise.
26:58Well, yeah, yeah. And the Chiron is
27:01just an evolution of the Veyron.
27:03Technically, Bugatti will tell you that
27:05it’s something completely different,
27:07but the chassis and the engineering
27:09appeared in the 2000s thanks to Piëch.
27:12We talked about this in one of our
27:14documentaries as well, including the
27:15one about Piëch. In the Porsche affair
27:17, we talked about him, yes. And it's
27:19clear that it’s just an exclusive
27:20version with an exclusive look. Well,
27:22there you go, they still have to sell
27:24something. Basically, just a nice
27:27restyling package for ten grand, and
27:32it's paid for. China has officially
27:39banned Tesla-style car door handles.
27:43Absolutely wonderful news. It’s worth
27:45noting that the first move has been
27:47made, because so far, only China has
27:48done this. And they did the right thing
27:50. China's Ministry of Industry and
27:53Information Technology has officially
27:55banned the installation of such handles
27:57, or as they call them, "devices of
27:59this type," in light electric vehicles
28:02and light commercial electric vehicles.
28:04The ban takes effect on January 1, 2027
28:07. If you are already developing
28:09something and a car is about to go into
28:11production, you can reach an agreement
28:13to produce them until 2029, and then do
28:15a restyling and change it. And it’s
28:18obvious that this is a reaction to
28:20several high-profile accidents where
28:22people died a truly horrific and
28:23terrifying death, when the car is
28:25burning from the inside and you can’t
28:27get out simply because the electric
28:29car's electric handle isn't working.
28:32And if you even had a manual backup, it
28:34was hidden away somewhere for the sake
28:36of design and so on. And so people died
28:38this terrible death. But in a very
28:40beautiful car. There. To make sure this
28:43doesn't happen again. Now there is such
28:44a law. According to the new
28:46requirements, the ability to open the
28:48handle should not depend on the onboard
28:50voltage or any special tools. And
28:53essentially, the guys just wrote the
28:55rules saying: make it normal, like it
28:57used to be, like it was. Let’s do it
29:00this way. I just don’t understand why
29:01this ban applies strictly to electric
29:03vehicles. Because this means that at a
29:06legislative level, you are admitting
29:09that only electric vehicles are
29:12dangerous. Because, again, there are
29:17gasoline cars that have the same
29:18electric handles that depend on the
29:20internal 12-volt network and don't open
29:23if something happens. And there are
29:25Chinese cars that have, well, no backup
29:27at all, and you physically cannot open
29:29them if something goes wrong with the
29:31car, it glitches, loses power, and so
29:33on, even if it has a gasoline or hybrid
29:34engine. But according to the law itself
29:37, it turns out that, well, indeed, only
29:39electric vehicles are worth worrying
29:41about. What an interesting thought.
29:47Meanwhile, consumers have lost interest
29:49in the sports version of the Xiaomi SU7
29:50. We are talking about the Ultra, just
29:53so you know. According to Car News
29:55China, in December of '25, only 45
29:58Ultra units were sold in China. And
30:01despite how much Davidovich admired
30:03them, the car launched in March of '25.
30:07Let me remind you: this version, with
30:09its "horsepower,""impossible" specs, "
30:11ultra" something or other...it went on
30:14sale in March '25, they started off
30:15strong, I believe they sold 3,000 cars
30:17in the first month, and then the pace
30:19throughout the year was like 2,000–
30:212,500 cars per month. In September, it
30:25all dropped to 480 cars sold per month.
30:27And by the end of the year, we arrived
30:29at almost zero. Rumor has it that the
30:32special department dedicated to sales
30:35of the Ultra, the promotion of this Su7
30:37Ultra, this electric sports car and so
30:40on, has already been disbanded. I have
30:44a question: what happened? How could
30:47this be? What about the Porsche killer?
30:51What about the killer of all supercars?
30:54What about this kind of monster for
30:55that kind of money? I mean, it’s like
30:576 million rubles. In China, total. And
31:00such a car. How could this happen? What
31:04a surprise. Oh, no one could have
31:07imagined or predicted it. Oh, wait, no,
31:09not the Nürburgring. We went there,
31:12and all the automotive publications
31:15came out like, "Holy crap, a new world,
31:18" so what happened? The 911 is still
31:22selling 50,000 cars a year, just as it
31:24always has. Even though Porsche is
31:26doing very poorly. I mean, like, things
31:27are just, well, a disaster there, yes.
31:30But somehow, those old, "useless" 911s
31:32still sold 50,000 units, and they're
31:33twice as expensive. And where are all
31:36those guys who told us on every social
31:37network that, "Oh, this is the Ultra"?
31:39"Oh, it's a terrifying machine.""It's
31:44so groundbreaking for Xiaomi that it
31:46leaves the entire automotive industry
31:49behind.""That's it, you step on the gas
31:52, and you get this kind of acceleration
31:54." Ooh, where are they all? Why? What
31:59happened? Explain? No. I'll wait. In
32:07Russia, the number of passenger cars
32:09has decreased for the first time.
32:13Practically every automotive
32:14publication, actually not just
32:15automotive, probably everyone came out
32:17with these headlines, and even some
32:18economic ones came out with similar
32:20headlines, like, "Oh, we've arrived for
32:22the first time." The number of cars in
32:24the country is falling. Oh, oh, oh. You
32:27look inside, and it's actually not
32:28dog-related, but the Ministry of
32:30Internal Affairs. The Ministry of
32:32Internal Affairs. Released a report
32:34that in '25 there were 52,886,000
32:40passenger cars registered in the
32:41country, which is 0.18%less than in '24
32:48.
32:48So, they all got scrapped. Well,
32:50there it is, the recycling fee has been
32:52collected. Everything is set, they’ve
32:53gone off for recycling, it’s all fine
32:55. Back in '24, we had 52,982,000 cars,
32:59and now it's 52,886,000. So, in
33:03absolute terms, about 100,000 cars have
33:04gone somewhere. Let’s think back to
33:08the 2000s, when our annual car sales
33:11volume was like two-point-something
33:14million vehicles; in 2007, I think, it
33:17was 2.9, or maybe in 2008 it was 2.9.
33:22Well, somewhere around there, in short,
33:23it was over two million back in the
33:242000s. And now, for quite some time—
33:27to be precise, about twenty years give
33:29or take since the 2000 s—we've been
33:31selling fewer than 2 million cars per
33:34year. And the service life of a car is
33:37maybe 15-25 years at the absolute limit
33:40. At some point, when you had 2.5
33:44million sold there, and now only 1.5
33:46million are being sold here, it will
33:48eventually start to converge, and these
33:51scissors will start to overlap. I’m
33:54saying this because, well, we are
33:55arriving at that situation. Most likely
33:58, in the near future—some years, or
34:00perhaps even decades—we will
34:02eventually see headlines saying, "Oh,
34:04there are far fewer cars registered, oh
34:07no, something else has disappeared."
34:09Good. Excellent, because it’s gone.
34:12It was just some old, rusty junk being
34:15scrapped. Jaguar Land Rover will start
34:22assembling Chery cars in the UK. Well,
34:24what else can they do? They can't
34:26manage to build their own cars. So
34:27we'll assemble Chery instead. We've
34:30seen this somewhere before.
34:31Do they have nothing else to do? Why?
34:34Objectively, the factories are just
34:36standing there, the production capacity
34:37is available. Chery is like, "We need
34:39to get into the UK market to at least
34:42sell some cars there." That’s it.
34:44Well, it's all the same thing.
34:46Everything that happens here is
34:47happening there, it's all more or less
34:48the same. It’s just that Chery needs
34:50to enter the market, and Jaguar is
34:51sitting idle.
34:52And what’s wrong with it?
34:53Let’s think. Let’s remember.
34:55Let’s recall those magnificent Jaguar
34:58concepts. The electric transition.
35:00And
35:01that's it.
35:03Yes. Li Auto is closing 100 showrooms
35:08in China. And it turns out that, well,
35:12where are all those claims that Li Auto
35:15would conquer the world, if their
35:17year-on-year sales have dropped by 18%?
35:23Yes, the fact that they are closing
35:25these dealerships is actually not
35:26really big news, because Li Auto has a
35:28unique approach to both its vehicles
35:30and how they are sold. Besides having
35:34regular, normal, human-style
35:35dealerships, they also had showrooms in
35:38shopping malls, where you’re just
35:40walking through a mall, and you see
35:42clothes, sneakers, Li cars, jewelry—
35:44something like that. And purely because
35:47of the high rent, high expenses, and
35:49low sales, they said, "Let's cut it all
35:51," because any company needs to save
35:53money and spend it efficiently.
35:55That’s correct, it’s all good and
35:57fine, but their plans for world
35:59domination haven't quite worked out.
36:02Somehow it just didn't happen. Somehow
36:04it's just not happening; yes, they’ve
36:06reached a good volume and are producing
36:07a lot of cars. Yeah, let's look at the
36:09dynamics a bit further down the road.
36:10Well, I think they just chose the wrong
36:12course. They wanted to jump into
36:15electric vehicles like Zeekr with their
36:17Mega and so on. It was a cascade; first
36:21, they had that scandal with the Mega
36:22—whether it caught fire or not—and
36:24that really hit their sales hard. Plus,
36:27they've had some warranty-related
36:28disputes. Plus, well, they seemingly
36:30bet on things they couldn't pull off.
36:32Additionally, from my perspective, the
36:34car isn't really worth the attention
36:35it’s getting. I mean, maybe it has
36:38its own niche. And perhaps in our
36:39current situation and market realities
36:41—where we have sanctions, companies
36:43have left, production facilities are
36:45idle, and there's a general lack of car
36:48options—and the only thing you can
36:49bring in is from China. Under these
36:52specific conditions, it might actually
36:54be somewhat popular here. Yeah, if Li
36:57Auto had appeared here in, say, 2021,
36:59nobody would have needed it. Well, to
37:02be more precise, someone would have
37:04imported it and someone would have
37:05bought it, but definitely not in the
37:06quantities we see in China. Considering
37:10they managed to sell 400,000 cars in
37:122025, it’s like, who even are you
37:14guys? Because when your market is 34
37:18million cars sold in a year—within a
37:20single year, mind you—
37:23that's insane,
37:25which is like 30 Russias in terms of
37:27sales volume, then your 400,000 units
37:29are just "go away and stay out of sight
37:31, kid." So things aren't going great
37:33for them, like any other startup, they
37:35are running at a loss, of course,
37:36simply because they need to recoup
37:37their investments. It's not a fast road
37:39, and it will take them a few more
37:40years of work to achieve that. But
37:43since some of our local media outlets
37:45picked up this news that Lixiang is
37:47closing 100 showrooms, and that it
37:48means the company is basically gone.
37:52The guys are simply, well, looking for
37:53more effective sales methods, killing
37:55off inefficient locations, and there is
37:56nothing strange about that. It is an
37:58absolutely normal work process. That is
38:04all I have for this episode. I’m off
38:06to the main channel to do some
38:08analytics. The main channel will also
38:10be coming back to life soon. Or was it
38:11already alive? It was already alive.
38:12Our Koien video is already out by the
38:14time you are watching this one. If you
38:16haven't seen it yet, be sure to check
38:18it out. Don't be slow, like There was
38:23supposed to be a bumper here, but we
38:25ran out of money, so these people just
38:26walked by. Just so you are in the loop.
38:33Ah.

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