Cutting prices no longer gets you very far in China’s electric car market. BYD’s sticker price of $11,000 for its lower-end electric vehicle models is hard to beat. But there are other ways for international carmakers to get a foot in the door of this hypercompetitive market.
In China, especially among younger consumers, in-car software is becoming the key differentiator of next-generation vehicles — sometimes even beating out more traditional factors such as build quality. Seamless connections between cars and smartphones, artificial intelligence-enabled online connectivity, assisted driving systems and in-car entertainment functions are important factors when choosing which EV to buy. Local EV maker Nio, for example, has even made its own smartphone to offer better mobile connectivity with its models.
These smart features have been one of the few ways to avoid getting caught up in the brutal price war in the Chinese market. These smarter EVs find buyers at the $30,000 to $60,000 price range.