AN article titled 'VW, BMW and Mercedes Are Getting Left in the Dust by China's EVs,' published in Bloomberg on Oct. 15, 2024, inspired this article. All the major German car companies that have a collective 15-percent market share in China are seeing major declines in third-quarter sales, driven by declines in their high-end cars. BMW was down 30 percent; Mercedes slipped 13 percent; and VW, owners of Porsche and Audi, slid 15 percent. The article shows how these Big Three German automakers dominated the high-end market in China in the internal combustion era with their high performance, well-engineered cars. It gives examples of previous owners of high-end German luxury cars shifting to Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and when choosing that, notes the equal or better performance of Chinese makers in all categories (see table).

This was a revelation to me, that for EVs, Chinese cars are better not just in price, but performance to the Germans.