Chinese cars

Conscript said:
Just watching Jayemm's latest video where he's calling out the ethics of Chinese car launches. In particular, an offer he and several others received from Jaecoo (me neither) to collaboratively "review" their new PHEV SUV...in exchange for £5k and some pretty strict conditions and contingent on them rubber stamping the output.


Usually wouldn't be bothered...except Jonny Smith, who I really rate, apparently took the money. I'd watched his video just before the Jayemm one :(

Hoping this isn't a common occurrence, and I'm aware that just the other day I said that I think Jayemm himself can be a bit cklickbaity...but he seems to be fairly on the money here in calling out Jaecoo for basically paying for good reviews.
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God I hope he has the heating on for this one. His F40 video gave me chills for about 2 hours afterwards.
 
yes agree - nashers talking about a scaled up version of the practise you see on Amazon ... where many of the products are chinese drop-shipped through european distributors.
another more credible cnbc video addressed the questionable car products and turn over of chinese auto companies being prepared to make mistakes/losses, & release poor products ..
unlike the western firms.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Except that is not what happened. A classic example of how to identify yourself that has watched neither video before posting utter nonsense about it on the internet.

You can't 'buy' a review, the very notion that money traded hands means it isn't a review by definition.

Be sure to let us know why you think the product is 'questionable'...
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It kind of is tho.... it sounded like there would be a lot of vetting and signing away of rights if it was signed.
I also watched the late brake show and I really like Johnny Smith but his video on that road trip was not like him. I don't think he said anything negative about the car despite him usually being incredibly anti SUV. anyone else and I would be convinced he was being a shill but ......
 
It wasn’t a review so you wouldn’t expect any material critique, that said he didn’t really say anything overly positive about it either, it was pretty neural in that respect.

Money of course changed hands and he was promoting the brand so that’s ultimately what ‘shilling’ is in the YouTube context.

Although that is another one of those words which seems to have changed meaning recently. I’m not convinced he tried to pass the video off as something that it wasn’t so it doesn’t really meet the true definition of a shill.

He should have done a much better job of disclosing the arrangement in the video though and criticising him for not doing so is 100% fair and should always be called out.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
He should have done a much better job of disclosing the arrangement in the video though and criticising him for not doing so is 100% fair and should always be called out.
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ultimately I think this is my issue really. Had it of been made clear from the get go then i would have been fine with it. I often disagree with James Martin (JayEmm) though I do enjoy his content. I do think he was right here however.... it boils down to is a person a journalist or an influencer.

Personally i would put Johnny Smith and James Martin firmly in the journalist bracket which is largely why i like their content but (imo of course - other opinions exist :D ) that does give them more of a responsibility to be open when they are being paid directly to talk about a product.
I know you could argue that this has been the case since the dawn of journalism that companies pay to grease the wheel with new products be it cold hard cash or paid for jollies away...... its a sliding scale i guess but having in the small print that they insist on seeing the final content before being released and being able to cut bits is a step too far..

anyway that is by the by...... i cant comment on the quality of the car in question. it looks alright i guess but for my taste it is pretty ugly looking, like they got a range rover evoque and hit it with an ugly stick and even the range challenge....... it didnt seem that impressive to me.

Absolutely would not pick one up new, however if i wanted a hybrid maybe they will be bargain bucket once 3 years old. I dont see it holding its value that well but time will tell so could be a good 2nd hand buy. Chery (the parent company) do not have a great reputation for build quality though for what i can tell but i suppose that could improve.
 
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See I haven’t watched the video as that then sends a signal to the analytics it’s not a good video. Watching it is job done…
 
Chinese rival overtakes Tesla as Britain turns against Musk

Chinese electric car titan BYD has overtaken Tesla in British sales for the first time as public opinion sours towards Elon Musk.

BYD sold 1,614 passenger cars last month, with Tesla selling just 1,458 by comparison, according to data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The figures represented a 500pc annual increase for BYD, while Tesla’s sales were down about 8pc.

It marks the first time that BYD has outsold Tesla on a monthly basis.
 
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@SkyTerran while the sentiment may indeed be true, the sales are down as Tesla do quarter or year end push for sales. Also BYD have a huge uptick in the number of models now available in the UK, not to mention Tesla have also just announced their best selling car, the Model Y, is being refreshed in the coming months. They are all made in China anyhow.

So many cars built in China and shipped here now, if you added them all up it won't be long before they tip the scales towards dominance from China.
 
@Journey these are two real factors that limited Tesla sales in January. But you're crazy to think that Elon's political activity is not the major factor stopping a lot of people from buying a Tesla. The majority of EV buyers tend to have liberal political views and can't possibly be happy to see him ALL the time on TV and social media supporting some very shady and scary politicians. Politicians who's fanbase contains the majority of climate change deniers.

Obviously we have different views on this, but in a couple years it will be clear who's right. Tesla Model Y facelift is technically a great car (quite possibly the best car in the world in 2025) and there will be a huge uplift in sales once it becomes available to order. But I believe long term Tesla sales will raise slower than the Chinese EV sales, as the majority of car buyers wouldn't want to support the far right with their wallets.
 
BYD have presence on the high street / boots on the ground next to other dealers so this helps in their competition with tesla ..
if I wanted to test drive a tesla, even look at a juniper where would I go ? yes, fleet buyer can take a gamble, it's not my money and a short term commitment.
I can see that GenZ may be prepared to buy a mattress online (how did that work out), but cars, they will realise that mechanism doesn't give a cheaper product, and an influncers opinion might be biassed.

( Still if reeves offers loans to entice the private buyers ... can't see those being offered on cars with principal chinese roots, maybe they/cn will just drop their prices though)
 
They can't be selling many Dolphins, surely? The front end looks like it's been grafted on from an early 2000's Proton!

Not sure I've ever seen a Dolphin on the road but there are a few Atto's locally and on my travels I come across the occasional Seal.

jpaul said:
BYD have presence on the high street / boots on the ground next to other dealers so this helps in their competition with tesla ..
if I wanted to test drive a tesla, even look at a juniper where would I go ? yes, fleet buyer can take a gamble, it's not my money and a short term commitment.
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I think this makes a difference. They've taken on the old Peugeot dealership site in Norwich which is a fairly substantial unit and are under the same Franchisee as the local Ford dealership. These things make a difference when trying to push a brand people are barely even aware of.
 
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