I am not sure if the new Model Y is available for registration in China, yet.
The statistics usually rely on registration data and that very much represents people waiting on the new Model Y.
The new Model Y very much bears an aura of „Made for China, Made in China“ and will likely hit the taste of many buyers.
Could be, and now we have the Chinese New Year as well.
It will probably be April resuts that really show how Tesla sales are in China.
The British auto industry just released its sales data for January.
Tesla sales fell just 12 percent.
However, battery EV sales were 35 percent higher in the UK in January 2025 than in January 2024.
The cake is growing, but Tesla is getting to eat less and less of it.
Chinese brand BYD started 2025 as it had finished last year with the strongest performance of any brand, up 550% to 1,614 car sales, almost 150 more than Tesla in UK.
I wrote a few daysago that Elon’s hopes of making a lot of money by selling self driving would be damaged if a rival motor manufacturer offered it for nothing, now BYD has done exactly that with their Go’s Eye FSD, even on the cheapest Seagull model.
The article is not clear on pricing so it could be Elon is lucky and only the basic version is free and the other options costs but maybe not.
The God’s Eye uses the DeepSeek AI tech which is very much cheaper than other AIs.
No wonder Elon is trying to close US federal agencies investigating his businesses
Altgough to be fair the numbers of Cybertrucks sold is relatively small and over a short time so the statistics would be improved by more data from more sales and over a longer time.
So the consumer is once again the crash test dummy
Actually it’s not the consumer of these vehicles but innocent bystanders such as pedestrians which have prevented them from going on sale here.
They are lethal with their sharp edges and unforgiving front ends.
Pedestrians are a very rare species in most parts of the US….
ROTW wasn’t much of a consideration during its design.
But Musk now has a new loyal customer
The sharp edges are probably the least of the problems.
The success of large SUVs and pickup trucks shows in the death statistics. Monster trucks are a relatively recent phenomenon, this shows in the deaths of the “other vehicles”, too.
Taken from https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/historical-fatality-trends/deaths-by-type-of-incident/
I’m not sure it does.
There could, for example, be an increase in overall deaths whilst in motor vehicles because more people are on their phones or otherwise distracted.
There are plenty of serious single vehicle accidents in Switzerland where, at first, no cause is found.
I would expect phones to show in all accident types, not necessarily in equal measures but the trend should be there. Non-collision incidents however fall, fixed object incidents did as well until very recently.
It would be a start if these trucks wouldn’t be taxed as cars but as commercial “trucks” - which they are (at least the full-size ones) in Europe.
The Cybertruck is big, but so are lorries. If you get hit by a lorry in traffic, you are as good as dead, too. There’s a very sad thread somewhere about that…
As much as I’d like to drive something like a Model S, my Model 3 is already difficult enough to turn around in the underground parking at work. Adding more length to it wouldn’t be fun. The Cybertruck is simply not suited for most inner cities in Europe even without underground parking being what it is…
That said, insurance for these in the US must be absurd, given they pay several thousand for a Model Y sometimes.
Do they test for drugs?
Most Big SUVs are not suited for driving in Europe. I always crackup watching drivers trying to park. Especially in underground garages.
I don’t understand. Since 10 years ago, all cars (except economy models) have parking sensors, rear or even full top view cameras. It’s damned easy to park with this help.
On the other hand, people that claim to drive well and park quickly…their cars have at least one rub with a wall.
Not that so much as cars in general have gotten bigger and parking spaces, especially in underground car parks that were built decades ago, are still for smaller cars than we have today.
Simply Swiss garages were never built for large SUVs. Park sensors and cameras are practical but still its the size that matters. I once watched a guy pull off his whole front fender because he backed up and didn’t notice the low poled fence next to it. The worse is when they barrel down the middle of narrow streets hogging the road and you are forced to pull over to let them go by. Even when having the right of way.
Sensors don’t help planning the manoeuver.
Their high hoods create huge blind zones. Depending on seat setting and the driver’s size, 4-5m for a RAM or F-150 appear to be typical.
Front cameras usually are integrated in the front grill (that’s probably about chest height) and can’t look straight down to show what’s a short distance away or the bumper is about to hit. This blind zone is still 2.5-4m, says Chatgpt.
