Ryan Xu was a dream customer for Germany’s automakers. The Guangdong-based entrepreneur and her husband own a Porsche 911 and a Mercedes-Benz G-Class and were among the first buyers of the electric Porsche Taycan.
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Ryan Xu was a dream customer for Germany’s automakers. The Guangdong-based entrepreneur and her husband own a Porsche 911 and a Mercedes-Benz G-Class and were among the first buyers of the electric Porsche Taycan.
But her views on German cars have soured along with Chinese consumers who increasingly favor tech refinement over traditional selling points like horsepower and handling. The software systems in the Taycan, which costs well over $100,000, were “terrible,” the 36-year-old mother of three said. It was “just an electrified Porsche — and that’s it.”
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stephen ryner jr. 🦉replied to stephen ryner jr. 🦉 on last edited by
After dealing with braking and other quality issues, the Xu family sold their Taycan and bought a Nio ET5. The car was about a third cheaper than a Mercedes EQE, which Xu also considered, but offered a more luxurious interior design, smooth voice controls and greeted their kids by name as they climbed in.
“German cars can hardly match” that level of technology, said Xu, who runs a business with her husband. Mercedes, BMW and Audi “can hardly be seen as luxury cars now.”
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stephen ryner jr. 🦉replied to stephen ryner jr. 🦉 on last edited by
Unfortunately Chinese consumers are driving car manufacturers to make cars greet your children by name, a dystopian nightmare I have on interest in participating in.
I just want an electrified Porsche — and that’s it.
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stephen ryner jr. 🦉replied to stephen ryner jr. 🦉 on last edited by
A friend showed off their new BMW which greeted them by name, and my heart sank. That’s not what I want.
As a software developer, I just want a car, not an advertising surveillance agent on wheels. This is awful.
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CM Harringtonreplied to stephen ryner jr. 🦉 on last edited by
@nuthatch yeah, the markets are VASTLY different. That said, it’s also clearly large enough for both/all.
Similarly, I don’t want to drive my iphone, nor my couch. My ideas of ‘luxury’ are just different.
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CM Harringtonreplied to stephen ryner jr. 🦉 on last edited by [email protected]
@nuthatch yeah, I’m actually really upset our electric car future actually means we’re going to be driving instruments of surveillance. Are the options ‘hack and install little snitch in cars’, or ‘only buy old petrol cars from the 90s’? That seems pretty terrible.
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stephen ryner jr. 🦉replied to CM Harrington on last edited by
@octothorpe the very rich can afford to retrofit old cars with non-surveillance electric drives, but, yeah. Old cars are gas-guzzling pollution machines, unfortunately.
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CM Harringtonreplied to stephen ryner jr. 🦉 on last edited by
@nuthatch Now we have to get @littlesnitch to make an ODB2 version
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CM Harringtonreplied to stephen ryner jr. 🦉 on last edited by
@nuthatch looks like I’m gonna have to become very rich, then.
