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XPeng’s Big Move: Can Chinese EVs Dominate Australia?! |Fully Charged Show Podcast with Jason Clarke
00:44:27
In this episode of the Fully Charged Show Podcast, Robert Llewellyn sits down with Jason Clarke, the CEO of TrueEV, the exclusive distributor of XPeng cars in Australia. They dive into the rise of Chinese EVs, why XPeng’s G6 is turning heads, and...
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Foreign.
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Welcome to another episode of the Fully Charged show podcast coming to you from lovely, sunny, balmy Australia. Yes, I know, I'm very lucky. I'm very aware of it. It's not too hot today. It's very, very pleasantly warm. How annoying is that to hear if you're not in Australia? Today's guest on the fully charge shared podcast is Jason Clark and he runs a company called True ev and they are the Australian distributors for Xpeng cars. Xpeng. I'm not going to say anything about it because I learned so much on this. I just want you to learn what I learned about these new Chinese companies because they're very new and they're making amazing cars and I am very, very privileged to not only be in Australia, but literally outside this house there is an XPENG G6 plugged into the solar panels on the roof, charging and ready to go. So that is very nice. And we're about to do quite a big road trip in it, which I'm really looking forward to. So that's. And Jason clearly knows a lot about China, what's going on in China. He spent a lot of time there. He's been, you know, he was there when the cities were full of choking toxic gas and he's there now. As you can hear, this gang of birds have just gone completely do lally out in the garden. Sadly, not a kookaburra, which would be very, very on message, but these are lovely little parroty fellas.
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Yeah.
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All right, guys, I'm trying to record a podcast introduction. Do you mind? Oh, my God. Just calm down. Anyway, that's. I won't go on. Please do welcome the very well informed Jason Clark to the Fully Charged Show Podcast. Love the Everything Electric show. Then join us live in Sydney in March or London in April or in Vancouver, Farnborough and Melbourne in September, October and November 2025. So, Jason, thank you so much for joining us on the Fully Child show podcast. Really interesting time to come back to Australia. I had a long gap when I couldn't come, you know, Covid and work and economics and everything. So I missed, I think, the beginning of the change because I saw this remarkable change from say, 2018 to, to like 2023. That was the gap and I wasn't here. I mean, in terms of electric vehicles on the road, really noticeable jump and charging infrastructure, those two things had really changed. I mean, could you just do the history of what you're doing with True EV and how that ties in with that shift?
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Yeah, no, that's right. And thanks for having me today. Thank you. I think what you've just said is really what started the inspiration for true EV. So back 2018, so yeah, 2018, 19, there were practically no EVs on the roads. And I think I can remember walking into the Westfield Bondi forecourt and there was Tesla Model S and I thought, whatever that is, I want one. That was only 10 years ago.
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Yeah.
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And so Teslas came here, there was only a few, there was no infrastructure whatsoever. They got by and they were very noticeable on the streets and very noticeable at the charge stations because you'd have a whole queue of Tesla Model S's people having a chat group. So it was like a whole communities were being built. So that I noticed that. But then, you know, so after Covid, you know, we've seen a steady build. The penetration rate still only 10% of all new car EVs. So it's still still very low. But the nature of the Australian car buyer, I mean the top three selling cars in Australia are the Ford Ranger Ute, the Toyota Hilux Ute and the Istuzu Ute gives you, that gives you the mentality of an Australian car buyer. And then I think it's the Toyota RAV4 sort of mid size SUV at a good price. But we've started to see now real adoption of EVs. I think people are seeing the infrastructure more and more. But what's exciting for us is that although we're bringing one brand in, the Xpeng Chinese EV into Australia, we're starting to see some really interesting cars on the road, like very different, you know, so Tesla still, still leading byd, you know, fast follower there, a lot of, lot of MGs that we see also Polestar. But now we're starting to see cheap Xpeng G6 on the road with the Zika Deepal and all these other, other brands with very, very cars. So we will see quite a bit of change coming up I think.
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B
Right, but you so, so truly you're just focused on Xpeng. Is that the, you only do one, you're only dealing with one brand, is that correct or.
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Well, the launch of true ev, what we wanted to do was build electric or an EV lifestyle brand. That's how we started out. So we saw that we would have cars, motorbikes or sorry, motorcycles, jet skis, you know, pretty much electric transportation. So that was what we started to do as well as accessories and merchandise for that lifestyle. So picture Bunnings, you'd be familiar with no Bunnings or Bunnings or office works but for EVs. For EV lifestyle.
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Right, I see, right.
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That was the thinking when we started the business.
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Yeah.
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And then we did research for like what would be a compelling brand for Australia to launch true ev. And so we went to China and we found about 110 EV brands in China and someone said, Jason, that's rubbish. There's more like 210. There were, I mean that's over two years ago. There weren't brands of EVs in China. It's aggregating now because they're maturing in terms of their. So there's probably 100 and something now and that will only aggregate and get smaller as their market matures. But we came across xpeng, we pitched for the deal for us to bring them in Australia and we're now exclusive to xpeng. So we live and breathe XPENG in Australia.
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B
Right. Which is fantastic. So, and what is the range of their cars then? So I know that because I test drove. I see. I have trouble remembering numbers and letters with cars because, well, I have driven quite a few now. But the one that's weird, I loved it. The saloon car, is that G7 like the sedan?
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Yeah, that was a P7.
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P7. P7. I beg your pardon? Because I've test driven that in the UK and I was blown away by it. I mean it was, you know, it's very hard to judge in two and a half, three hours of driving, which is all we had. It was a press car but boy, it was a really wonderful machine.
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Yeah. We've got a demonstrator or an evaluation P7 here, left hand drive in Australia. So I mean that is a really great car, sedan. Australians love their SUVs though. So yes, that's.
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Yes, that's very obvious.
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We are planning to bring the P7 now. The P7 plus is the latest iteration. So just to help you with your numbers and let's the P7 plus to go with the G6 and the X9. You know, the thing about XPENG is obviously they're building aspirational vehicles like they.
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Yeah, good.
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They're. The quality of manufacture is amazing.
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The design, it's amazing. Yeah.
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But you know, all that aside, xpeng is known for their technology. So their technology company first and foremost with a focus on AI. The driver experience in these cars is starting to develop really quickly as the car about you, about the conditions, about what's happening externally because of the large number of cameras that it has on board and the investment in really fast processes and processing. You know, process the images and the information to give you a fantastic driving experience.
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No, it is. I mean, having driven. Well, I've driven the G6 now a total of I think 20, 23 kilometers.
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The greatest kilometers you ever have, I could ever have.
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But what was, what was. You know, I think that's the one thing. I think it's, it's kind of universal. But the one thing that's just shockingly good is. Is the speed of response of the screen when you're looking. You know, it's just. It's just. You can't even see it do it. You know, you press navigation. It's the map. And, and I said I. Because I couldn't work out how to open the charge port. So I just said, xpeng, open the charge. The charge. I think I said, open the charge port. And I didn't. I didn't even know. And the thing just opened and I thought, oh my God. Yeah, I had no idea you could do that. And its response was so instantaneous. It was amazing. And then every time I've got out of the car, it said, you've left your mobile phone in the car.
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Do you know how many times that saved me?
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Yes, because I'd forgotten. Oh, I had left it in there. Yeah. And also the other thing, especially if.
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It said you left your phone in the pub or something.
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Yes, that would be better.
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Yes, that's good enough.
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Yeah. But the other one, which I was very impressed with, is that the. There's a cooling. There's cooling air around your phone when it's on the, on the charger. I just think, well, that is. Damn. Because they're always hot, you know, especially in Australia, your phone can get very hot. Not in an xpeng. That was a, that was a thing.
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I mean, but then the features, Robert, like they're. Yeah, it's gonna. We've got like a G6, you know, cheats, cheat sheet of, you know, all and so on. But until you actually get in and start, you are. And if you're inquisitive, you know that these functions. But the speed of refresh and how it really is. Yeah, that's. That's mind boggling.
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Yeah. Yeah, it is really noticeable. But then, I mean, I think I would love to sort of go wider. I mean, I'm very happy to rave on about. And I will be raving on about the, the G6. I'm sure I won't be able to stop myself. But what's fascinating is that there is a kind of, from a European perspective, Quite a unique position that Australia holds as a car country because of. Largely because of China. So we're now getting some of the cars you've had here for a while in Europe, in general, in the uk, not in the us we all know that's not going to happen. Whenever we do review a Chinese car on the fully charged show, the amount of American Americans who say, I wish we could get that in, in my country is impressive. You know, it's a lot. But I mean, that is because you don't. You no longer have. Because. Okay, I'll do it as quickly as I can. When I first came here, I think there was still a manufacturing base. Holden and Ford were still making cars in Australia.
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They were.
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And that's.
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Yes, that's.
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That's gone. And now you. There's repurposing and various things that, you know, there is an industry around the car market in the UK, in Australia. But you're importing 99% of the cars, I'm sure, aren't you? In various forms.
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Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, back in the day there was a car industry here in Australia. And, you know, we're a small country, there's only 23 million people here. A lot of jokes you could have right there. Yeah, you know, we had a car industry and as a small country, we can win Olymp. We can win Olympic medals.
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Yes, Amazingly well.
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Yeah, but we can't manufacture cars efficiently or economy economically. Forget that. Just stick to winning Olympic medals. Maybe. But yeah, you know that those industries just died here and they were always plagued with industrial action and strikes. It was, it was just terrible. So we even had, I think Mitsubishi and even Nissan manufacturing here as well, and they've closed down.
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I didn't know. Okay. Wow.
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There's literally no domestic industry to protect. So people speak to me, Jason, are you worried about tariffs and those sorts of things? Well, we're aware, but there's no local industry to protect. So, yeah, 99.9% of cars that you see on the road have all been imported. Whereas in the us, you know what?
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No, it's a big industry.
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Detroit Car City. You know, if there's problems with that industry, gm, Ford and on you go, like wholesale unemployment and trouble if they, they do have to protect those industries. And then you look at what's coming from China, where their ability to deploy tens of thousands of people to a project quickly with high quality manufacturer and output. It seems Western countries, us, Australia, Europe, just can't do that anymore. You know, European car manufacturers, you know, that have a history of being leaders. The us.
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Yeah.
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Really under pressure.
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Yeah.
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Happened before. Happened with Japanese manufacture.
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Yes, yeah, it happened. I mean, it is very similar, isn't it? Except for. I suppose the big difference is even though those companies are huge, like NIST and Toyota, obviously Mitsubishi from Japan, who did come to really, I mean, made a massive impact in the United States and, and in Europe and here, a huge impact here. But if you actually think of it, Japan's quite a small country with quite a small population in comparison with China, which is huge, with huge manufacturing base now. And, you know, it's just. The scale of it is. The great story I love, and I'll do it very quickly, is we had an email, met about eight, nine years ago from Leicester City Council in the uk and they were very. They sent us a photograph of the mayor standing proudly by the. The city's first all electric bus. And there was a lovely picture of the mayor and he's standing by the door of the electric bus. And then on that we then later learned on the same day in Shenzhen in China, 17,000 diesel buses were taken off the road and replaced with 17,000 electric buses made by BYD, who made the bus that was in Leicester. You know, you just go, the scale of it, the scale of what they're capable of is.
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Yeah, it is just staggering, isn't it? I was looking at January production figures and BYD delivered 300,000 cars in January 2025.
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In one month.
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So, yeah, I mean, people, you hear those stats, you go, yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you sort of picture 300,000 cars on docks or on ships, like.
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It'S, it's thousands of acres of cars. Yeah.
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And going back to the Australia, we're a small country, so we account for 1% of car sales globally, which is.
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Oh, right.
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Which is. Which is significant.
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Yeah, yes, it's measurable.
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Yeah, measurable. You know, I think it's 10 million cars. No.
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1, right.
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No, it's 1.5 million new cars. Right. Excuse me. But, you know, going back to an xpeng, you know, anecdote, I was at their dealer conference last year and I was right. Dinner next to a XPENG executive and he headed up the AI division, right. Intelligence. And I asked him, I go, you know, how many in your team? And he just casually said 800.
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Wow. Wow.
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So again, if I was in Sydney trying, trying to corral 800 AI tech heads, get to 8 and then it would sort of run pretty thin.
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Yes.
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Even If I found 800 and if I tried to Deploy them on a united mission. I would have no chance.
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Oh my God. It is staggering, isn't it? I mean I think that is the. It is, it's really in your face here because I sort of, when I was here last year I suddenly went oh my God, that's you know a big pickup truck that's not by General Motors or Ford or Volkswagen or a European maker or a Japanese maker. It's, it was gwm, it said on a great wall motors Chinese. But it's a massive, I mean I've seen a few of them now. Massive pickup truck like a proper United States big hefty pickup truck made in China and I'm sure it was diesel or petrol, I don't know but it wasn't electric. But they're selling a lot of cars that I, because I'm focused on at the electric market then I'm very aware of those brands. But then there's other brands that are exporting cars to here that I don't even know about.
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Yeah, well it's, it's interesting. I mean it's. These new vehicles are appealing to customers in a different way. So we've talked about comfort, range, immediacy, the screens and just that feeling of technology and safety and fun is really how these new manufacturers are designing and deploying the technology in the cars. It's very, very different to try and appeal to the new consumer who wants, yeah some bespoke attributes or features of the car that they want some personalization but they want these comfort and tech and want to, you know, want to feel also that they're making a difference to the environment with you know, an eco friendly car in terms of noise pollution, air pollution. So I was explaining this to a friend here and you were talking about the large trucks and I was showing him this. It's the Xpeng X9 which is the seven seater and I was shot. The lie flat bed with the in seat massage and how you could change the mood from citrus to cedar. And it was Caroma therapy oil. Yes. While it had a little fridge and a pop down tv.
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Wow.
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My friend said have you seen my Ram truck? So we went to see the Ram. As we approached the Ram truck he ignited it with his key. So the rumble of the Hemi V8 it was rumbling and he said that's nothing but it was really well appointed. But he said that's not all. This is direct from the us We've done the left hand to right hand drive but look at this at the back and at the Back there was a gun cabinet in the side of the Ram trap where you could store your assault weapons. It's very, very different to chiromotherapy and in sync massage slightly at the other.
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End of the scale, isn't it? Yeah, that is just that the thing is that it's, it's so not surprising I should be surprised and aghast as a poem hearing about gun cabinets in American pickup trucks. But you just go now, you just go yeah, whatever. That's what they do.
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I saw it with my own eyes. So yeah, it's you know, that legacy, I mean it's a, you know, exaggeration but it's, that's legacy design compared to you know, over the air updates of the newest technology and features. You know, it's very, very different.
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B
Yeah, I mean because the thing that I think also sets this country apart is the. Well I've been hearing so much about it, the impact of solar. So what has happened in the solar market? Domestic rooftop solar has changed the way the grid operates in Australia to a degree that we're just beginning to see a hint of in the uk. But I mean I was really surprised by New Zealand. Very low solar take up in New Zealand. I mean it was, wasn't aware of that, you know. Yeah, I was really surprised but it's not, I mean it's starting now, people are working it out but it's pretty wide. I mean really. Because it's pretty widespread here. Yeah, I mean I like to do an I Spy thing. When we drive past a lot of houses on a road, you try and see the house without solar panels. Occasionally you'll see one but it's pretty rare. I mean it's so I can't remember what it is but it's the total gigawatt output of solar in midday in, in Australia is, is like in the. I can't even remember what it is. I did see it the other day. It's, it's lots of gigawatts. It's like 70 gigawatts. It's more, more electricity than Australia can use at any one time. Which is kind of a clue that there's something going on on a big way. But I mean are you, is that something that you. That comes up in discussion with your customers and your clients regarding electric cars? You know they're making that connection with.
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Solar and look it really surprising Robert. So I, we've done a number of exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney where we've had the full range of X pen cars in a big Right. Let's say the Electric SUV Expo in Melbourne where you know, 20,000 people might come by over a long weekend to the newest cars in the EV space. And I, I mean we've done a lot of market research and what I thought the typical, you know, smart xpeng driver might be or owner.
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Yeah.
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And then I was met with at the expo people more, let's say my, my generation which, which really surprised me and not just a few, I mean I would say predominantly older male and females who had, were looking to be almost energy neutral in, in home. So having solar panels, having in, in home charger, driving an EV and basically having no cost for.
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Right.
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The EV electric refueling effectively.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So that, that was the first thing but then the next thing was how a lot of them had been working through it and they were trying to get from, you know, convert that back from car to load. So then like charging the battery and then using the car to run.
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To run the house. Yeah.
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And then even further back to put, you know, energy back into the grid. So that really surprised me. There's a big community of Australians that have that way of thinking and I see it, I'm now seeing it more and more and as we've got, you know, more and more customers and there's about 10,000 on our sort of mailing list and community groups that are asking us questions and the number, you know, it's thousands of people even in our community that are looking to do these, these things.
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Yeah.
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Which I didn't see coming, I've got to say.
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Right.
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Yeah, but it's, it's really interesting, very creative the way that these, these people are thinking and ways that they can run, you know, cost neutral on, on energy.
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Yeah, yeah. I mean that's the thing is the, the challenge in effect to the traditional way of doing things. So if you think of even just the transition from a combustion engine to an electric motor that the, the, the, the infrastructure and the, the logistics of supplying liquid fuel is huge and complex and expensive and we've been doing it for decades. So it's all sorted out and you don't have to think about it. And it just, there's just petrol that comes out of a pump. But you know, that took decades to build and billions of dollars to build and we're now going, well, we want to do it like this. Which completely undermines the whole industry. I mean it throws the power industry out, it throws the fossil fuel industry. I mean it's a big disruptive change I think really is Galvanized around the vehicle to load or in whatever way. Vehicle to house or vehicle to grid is the kind of point where I feel there's a kind of tipping point in that, because once people understand that, they go, oh, so it's like running your house from your car. There's a switch that goes off in people's brains. They go, I get that. Oh, right, that sounds good. I like that.
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Yeah. Look, I find when I talk to people about it now, I know they're listening and understanding. Oh, yeah, yeah, it makes sense. But until you really get into what's happening here and what. Yeah, you would know now, the cost of energy in Australia is, you know, phenomenal. So, yeah, it's really expensive. And so if you can make changes on that. Yeah, but I've been the household. And then on the road, you know, it's. Yeah, it's thousands a month, really.
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B
Yes, yes, it can be. I mean, that's. I mean, that's the. The difficulty of the thing that happened in the UK that was really interesting when we had the massive price spike in our energy costs after Putin invaded his neighboring country, for whatever reason he had, everyone understood. There was no argument about it. I saw no debate about it. It was understood that the reason the electricity price had gone up was because of gas. It wasn't offshore wind or solar that made electricity more expensive, it was gas. And that has stayed with us because we at that. So all our. Other than wind, solar, nuclear, we're gas. That's what powers the uk and it's, you know, so the peak. Peak loads are always covered with gas if there's low renewables because we don't burn coal anymore. But what was interesting was that that became a common general understanding, rather than energy nerds like me going, yeah, but it's the gas that made it more expensive. I didn't have to say that anymore. They all knew, you know, that was. That was really encouraging. I mean, is that. Do you feel that consciousness is here? Because that's what's happened. The reason electricity is expensive is not because of wind turbines and rooftop solar in Australia.
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No, no, I. Look, it's. It's usually a significant event, often negative, that jolts.
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B
Yeah.
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To coming up with a. What would you say, a very useful or unique original outcome. So I certainly saw that when I used to live in Melbourne. There was drought and water shortage, water rationing, and then you couldn't water your garden or wash your car on certain days of the week. And this was not that long ago. And then thinking and Then a downpour would come and you see it hit the roofs, down the gutters, down the pipes and, you know, in, into the rivers and ocean and sort of like, oh, hang on, why all this water waste? And then that led to, you know, the development of, you know, compulsory water tanks, water storage tanks in new buildings.
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B
Right.
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Start to see it like a response to the problem. But then you have a decade of nothing but rain. Yes. So typical at that. But that day may come again, Robert. So.
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B
Yeah, yeah, it might do. I have to say, pretty much every time I've ever been to Melbourne, it's pouring with rain. It does seem to do it quite a lot. Yeah.
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A
Oh, yes.
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B
Okay. No, no, you get a few. Yeah, you can. If you had a point, as I.
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Was saying with EVs, you know, I'm. Despite what I'm doing and what I'm leading now, I was pretty slow to the EV market, but, you know, I'm starting to see all the applications and the lifestyle and the, and the impact making. We can talk about these small things and the EV penetration rate being around 10% of all of new cars. But, you know, I traveled to China. You talked about Shenzhen, where The penetration of EVs on new cars is about 80% now Guangzhou, I think that's about 70%. And I think 40% of all cars across China are EVs now. That's a fundamental change. I mean, I, I went to Guangzhou, say 10 years ago and the air quality, you know, it was, it was terrible. It was. You can. Yeah, it burnt your eyes. It was loud, chaotic and a mess. And it's. As many people live in Australia, you know, pretty much in that city. So it's intense. But I, I go there now. That's where XPENG headquarters are. You look on your, look on your phone and look at Guangzhou air quality index. It's excellent.
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B
Wow.
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And when you go there now, it's, it's clear.
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B
Right.
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Motorbikes, you know, ice motorbikes are banned from the.
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Right center. Oh, they're actually banned. They've banned them. So you're not allowed to use.
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The city center is clear, crisp and good quality. Yeah. Like it's completely transformed. Luckily, the chaos is still there.
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Yes. But it's just quieter and cleaner chaos.
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It's just not burning your eyes because.
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B
That'S, that's a thing I've always said about electric vehicles. Always say, you know, it's an extraordinary change and there's a big thing. But I said if you're in a big traffic jam with 500 electric cars. It's exactly the same as a big traffic jam with 500 petrol cars. It just smells better. That's the, that's the big difference.
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If you get out of your car to, you know, combat the traffic, you know, it's, yeah, you're tasting better air but look, it is transformational but you don't know it until you really see it. You can read all the stats, yeah. Have all the debates about, you know, the amount of oil based materials in an EV and yeah, you can have that all day, every day. But the, until you see the impact in these countries where the take up is high, you don't know.
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B
Yeah. Now, I mean there's, it's been, there was very good news from London just before, not long before I left the UK about air quality in London and it was really pretty much entirely down to buses and taxis. So now a huge number of the taxis are electric and a very big number of the buses, I think we're, I can't remember. It's a, it's a big chunk of the total bus fleet is now fully electric and they, no one kind of, no one knows because they look exactly the same. They're double decker red buses.
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Robert, how long ago was that in say central London that you.
- [30:37]
B
Oh, that was like before Christmas I think. And it's very noticeable change because there was a very famous case about, I can't remember in the last 10 years, maybe five years ago of a very young child who's, who's. She died of an asthma attack when she was about 9 years old. Really tragic case and she lived very near a really busy road in London and her asthma attacks blended perfectly with high levels of air pollution. And so she's the first human being in the UK who's on her death certificate says died due to local air pollution. So that kind of got in the news. It became a big story and I think it sort of pushed people to think and it pushed the government in London, the local authority in London to really push hard to go, to go as electric as they could.
- [31:29]
A
Yeah, yeah, no, it's, you don't really notice a difference because it's gradual and then. Yeah, and then all of a sudden it's, it's there. So it's, it's, it is really profound from what, what I've, you know, witnessed myself.
- [31:46]
B
Yeah, yeah. One of the quick. The questions I wanted to ask you is. Well, I mean it's the clearly because you've obviously been there a lot and I'm hoping to Go to China this year for the first time. I've never been, but it is the. If we can briefly discuss the kind of impact that it's having. Because, yeah, there's so many stories that I, I always want to filter them out. But one of the stories I recently seen was, you know, due to the, the tariffs from the Trump government, you know, is a, is a gift to China. You know, because it's like China's gonna, I mean, it's so hard not to see China winning the, the battle for, you know, industrial dominance in the world, if you like, because it always was America and you could argue Europe in a strong second place, but it really does seem to have shifted to such a degree that China is the kind of key industrial force in the world.
- [32:41]
A
Yeah. As I was saying before, like, we, you know, there's more than 200 electric vehicle brands you've never heard of, and they're not new, they're 10 years old. So China as a, as a generalization in terms of design and manufacture of EVs, across the spectrum of different outcome. Your buses, cars, bikes, jet skis, skateboards, it more than 10 years, the battery tech, what new advancements there, Materials, you know, recyclable material. Literally a decade or more ahead, the population have adopted it. The low, I mean, high quality, low cost, you know, has always been, you're always learned in marketing, it doesn't exist. I mean, you can find some terrible brands in, in China. Don't worry about that. There's some very.
- [33:45]
B
Sure, yes, yeah.
- [33:45]
A
Very, very cheap electric vehicle products.
- [33:49]
B
Yeah.
- [33:50]
A
I would not be bringing them here. They wouldn't meet our standards. But as a generalization, they had to do something. The cities were appalling and Pete, you know, had to move. And so they did a long time ago. They can deploy large groups of people that will work towards a common cause quickly. And well, the design, the quality, the manufacturer is state of the art. Not everywhere, but from, you know, the leading companies. And it's brought a lot of fun to the auto industry. Yeah, you know, you land, you get, you're on the freeway and you look at all these cars here, I've never seen before. They've all got green license plates and green is starting to, you know, outnumber the blue. So it's a, it's a, it's a good time. And they. There, I mean, I, it happened in with Japanese imports. You know, it's like it'll never happen. And then, yeah, you know, Japanese cars, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan. Yeah, you know, dominant then Korean Hyundai. Yes. Here it looks like just a new season. It's factory vehicles. We'll talk about tariffs and data. Yeah, lots of things. But it's, it's too far gone, Robert. It's.
- [35:24]
B
Yeah, yeah, but I think, I think it would, it was perfectly justifiable for disgruntled European and American car makers because the point go, they just copied us for a time. I think that was perfectly fair. But what you see now is yeah, they did copy you but they moved on. They didn't stop there. They then made that better. They made the copy better than the original. And that's a pretty big challenge for the Europeans and Americans. I mean it's.
- [35:48]
A
So yeah, the technology bed and the construction and manufacturer quality is completely different. The thing I don't like is you can see the influence of certain shapes and designs. Yes, yeah, yeah, that is a copy of a shape. I don't like that. You know, I like, like looking like even some of the boxy Chinese EVs quite confront look at. But you know, I, I like that. You know, I'm all for that diversity in the, in the design. I mean I, you know, school pickup, I'm in the traffic, I'm in a left hand drive XPENG evaluation vehicle. And I was telling my kids, hey, look around, right?
- [36:27]
B
Yeah.
- [36:27]
A
So we're stuck in, you can see 20 cars let's say, and you've got V8, you've got, you know, your Land Cruisers, you've got your Mini and then you've got two or three different EVs all in this, doing the same thing, taking their kids. And the diversity is amazing. Like it's a really. But I would say right now, I mean Volkswagen is a very large investor in xpeng, right. They wanted to secure technology. They could probably get there themselves. But it's years. So yeah, I think they invested like 1.5 billion US in, in that and.
- [37:16]
B
That'S investing in them in China. I mean actually for their Chinese manufacturing.
- [37:21]
A
So Xpeng, interestingly dual listed, they're on the listed on the New York Stock Exchange as well as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
- [37:29]
B
Right.
- [37:30]
A
That's good strategy for them. You know, they've, they've got, they've got mom and dad investors in the U.S. isn't that amazing?
- [37:37]
B
But I'm assuming you can't buy an XPENG in the US at the moment because I mean that was one of the things when I picked up the car this morning was, you know, a brief discussion with the team there about that. You know, you've got 70 cars and they were all immediately delivered to customers and you've got another load coming very soon and they've all, they'll all go out to customers. So there's clearly there's enough demand for you to, to import sort of shiploads of cars. I mean, but one of the little things we mentioned, I think it's a, because it's the elephant in the room at the moment. A certain CEO of a certain company is, has become a very big public figure and I, I'm certainly aware of people who have traded in their Teslas for other brands and I was hearing that sort of off the record this morning. But I mean is that something that you've, I mean I'm very happy for you not to talk about it if you don't want to because it is difficult. But it's such a big, it's such a big story. It's very hard to kind of ignore it. And it's going to affect the market in general. I mean their sales are down, there's no question about it.
- [38:46]
A
Look, it's, look, things have changed and it has turned around but I think people think it happens really quickly. Yeah, but it takes years and years for a fundamental shift like ICE cars to EV to happen. But I mean things are tough. The cost of living in Australia is pretty hard. But look, we traded in a what, a two year old Porsche Cayenne V8. What is it? Variant S KMS for like $177,000 on a, to trade in on a 60. Oh, sorry. $55,000 XPENG G6.
- [39:29]
B
Right, right.
- [39:30]
A
It does the same thing. Yeah, it's not, not much smaller.
- [39:36]
B
No, it's a very roomy car. It's very spacious. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [39:39]
A
I mean the guy could have bought three, he could have traded in for three. But. Right, but the running cost and the differential like, and I think it's like frying pan in the face moment, you know?
- [39:52]
B
Yes, it's pretty obvious. Yeah. Well it's also that, I mean I don't know what the fuel consumption is of a V8 Porsche SUV, but I've got a feeling it's not, it's, it's not modest. It's quite greedy I would imagine.
- [40:06]
A
Used it, you know, just on regular trips to work, you'd be up to probably $250 every two weeks or so. Two or three weeks.
- [40:16]
B
Yeah.
- [40:17]
A
Yeah, let's see.
- [40:19]
B
And even with expensive electricity, $250 goes. You go a long way on 250 worth of electricity. Let's be honest. So. Because what I mean because I'm just, I did. I haven't interviewed one of the, the founders of xpeng but it was a long time ago so I can't remember, I don't know how long they've been going in.
- [40:43]
A
XPENG just celebrated late last year, 10 year anniversary.
- [40:48]
B
Right. But actually if you think in terms of sort of the old, you know, the very well established brands in your, you know, Mercedes is over 100 years old and they're very successful and they make amazing cars but in 10 years, 10 years that car, that company's gone from nothing to making really sophisticated, beautifully made cars. That is bonkers. I can't, it's, it's only 10 years now. Wow.
- [41:12]
A
Yeah, that, that's since inception. That's from three guys sitting around going, what do you reckon? How about it? To.
- [41:19]
B
Yeah.
- [41:20]
A
Delivering to more than 30 countries. 6, 6 car range like it's, it's phenomenal. Phenomenal.
- [41:29]
B
That is extraordinary. Wow. I mean also the, it's just mind boggling because that's one of the things I've learned over the last few years is the amount of engineers, production line engineers, people who build production lines and design cars and design transmission systems. They've all worked in China in the last 20 years, you know, maybe for two or three years. They've all been hired on very reasonable wages and they've given their skill and experience to. And it's been very well received. Clearly done the job because you know they're, they're doing very well.
- [42:06]
A
I mean I think that's what you've got to do if you, if you want to move up like it's, we call it China time. So.
- [42:13]
B
Right.
- [42:14]
A
I, I mean I holidayed in Fiji recently and I had Skype meeting or something and I asked the barman at the resort where I was staying what time it was and he looked at me and went like, come on man. He said like it's PG time.
- [42:32]
B
Right.
- [42:34]
A
You know, so now the opposite of that is China time. You can get anything done but it's the urgency and the speed.
- [42:42]
B
Yes.
- [42:43]
A
Look, the age of poor quality manufacture because it's cheap, that's, I mean it's still there but in, you know, high value consumer goods. That's. It's over. It's the opposite. Yeah, but you don't know. I give you, you know, to someone unknown if they get into an Xpeng G6, it's a Chinese designer manufacturer. You would have a, the typical Australian would have a mental picture that, that is not a high quality vehicle.
- [43:10]
B
Exactly. And it. And get it. Well, they wouldn't know it when they just got in it. You wouldn't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [43:16]
A
But you know, it's our job to get people in them. So.
- [43:19]
B
Yeah, it sounds like you're doing. It sounds like you're doing all right.
- [43:24]
A
Yeah, you know, but look, the feedback has been amazing because it's, it's an easy negative. But like feedback has been phenomenal. Like on this, what it stands for, the quality and the enjoyment of the. And it's, it's true to its promise. So we're very happy.
- [43:42]
B
Brilliant. Brilliant. Jason, thank you you so much for, for taking time to talk to us because it has been, it has been fascinating.
- [43:49]
A
Good to have a chat. Thank you. Speak to you soon.
- [43:52]
B
All right, take care.
- [43:54]
A
Okay, bye. Bye.
- [43:57]
B
Well, that's all we got time for. Sorry, I was slightly distracted during the introduction. The birds have calmed down a bit now. There's another one just going a bit. Falcon. Oh, look, now they've gone mad again. Anyway, that's all not going to go on. Do check out the Everything Electric show in Sydney on the 7th, 8th and 9th of March. The links to all the topics that we discuss are in the show notes. And as always, you know, please do subscribe, please tell your mates and if you have been. Thank you for watching.