Comment box Scope: summary, information, opinion Tone: neutral Opinion: yes Sarcasm/humor: none Cars are bad at the quantities we use them, but electric cars are better than gas ones,...
Comment box
Scope: summary, information, opinion
Tone: neutral
Opinion: yes
Sarcasm/humor: none
Cars are bad at the quantities we use them, but electric cars are better than gas ones, environmentally speaking, including lifetime emissions. The market in South America is starting to shift toward electric.
Today, it’s not so hard to take the plunge on an EV in Peru. Tesla still lacks a showroom but there’s been an influx of Chinese models from the likes of BYD, Geely (0175.HK), and GWM, which sell electric vehicles here at around 60% of the price of a Tesla, as well as legacy manufacturers such as Toyota (7203.T), Kia (000270.KS), and Hyundai (011760.KS).
EVs are still a small slice of the 135,394 new cars sold in Peru in the nine months to September, according to the country's automotive association, but they are on the rise. Sales of hybrid and electric vehicles hit a record 7,256 units in that period, up 44% year on year.
That's 5% of total sales, but a 5% YOY increase is looking good. Unlike the USA these countries have little reason to protect their own car industries (they don't really exist). Chinese cars are the best and cheapest, so that's what's taking hold.
Structurally, these imported cars will continue to have an advantage:
China has been ramping up sales since the opening last year of the Port of Chancay, north of Lima. The Chinese-built megaport has halved trans-Pacific shipping times just as Chinese manufacturers face rising barriers to entry in the United States and greater trade restrictions in Europe.
BYD (002594.SZ), which makes EVs, plug-in hybrids and combustion engine cars, plans to open a fourth dealership in Lima by the end of this year, while Chery (9973.HK) and Geely (0175.HK) have more than a dozen in total in Peru.
Chinese brands reached 29.6% of all new passenger car sales in Chile in the first quarter of this year.
Latest figures show EV market share hit 10.6% of new cars registered in Chile in September, 9.4% in Brazil in August, and 28% in Uruguay in the third quarter of the year — all record highs, according to local car associations and consultancy firms. In Europe and China, half of new cars registered by mid-2025 were EVs (56% and 51% respectively). In Japan and the U.S. rates were lower, closer to 2% and 10% respectively.
It's probably a good thing for the world that the big US auto market companies are losing global market share, because (....as a generalization....) its cars are extremely overpriced, energy-inefficient, dangerous, and environmentally damaging. And the industry has so far had almost no interest in changing anything because it's doing fine financially. So this could be a wake-up call to stop overbuilding vehicles and focus on producing more affordable, more streamlined cars that use less energy and are more electric.
In the 80s and 90s and 00s Toyota and other Japanese companies came in and revolutionized the industry and American business as a whole. I mean we have all heard that documentary about that GM plant in California. The USA has a lot of great businesses, but leaders are very ignorant of global best practices and new technologies, so actual competition could be good for them too in the long run.
Comment box
Cars are bad at the quantities we use them, but electric cars are better than gas ones, environmentally speaking, including lifetime emissions. The market in South America is starting to shift toward electric.
That's 5% of total sales, but a 5% YOY increase is looking good. Unlike the USA these countries have little reason to protect their own car industries (they don't really exist). Chinese cars are the best and cheapest, so that's what's taking hold.
Structurally, these imported cars will continue to have an advantage:
It's probably a good thing for the world that the big US auto market companies are losing global market share, because (....as a generalization....) its cars are extremely overpriced, energy-inefficient, dangerous, and environmentally damaging. And the industry has so far had almost no interest in changing anything because it's doing fine financially. So this could be a wake-up call to stop overbuilding vehicles and focus on producing more affordable, more streamlined cars that use less energy and are more electric.
In the 80s and 90s and 00s Toyota and other Japanese companies came in and revolutionized the industry and American business as a whole. I mean we have all heard that documentary about that GM plant in California. The USA has a lot of great businesses, but leaders are very ignorant of global best practices and new technologies, so actual competition could be good for them too in the long run.
Mirror: https://archive.is/q4LkE