Andreessen Horowitz founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz said on their podcast that Chinese automakers have developed high-quality and affordable vehicles supported by a robust supply chain ecosystem.
With the American auto industry struggling with slowing growth in its EV market, American automakers need to be able to offer a compelling $20,000 EV that also competes on quality if the US doesn’t want to “lose the auto industry,” Andreessen said.
“What China has now is not just really good car companies, but they’ve got this entire constellation of supply chain componentry,” Andreessen said.
China’s government has spent at least $230 billion to support electric vehicle makers such as BYD since 2009, according to a study published in 2024 by the Centre for Strategic & International Studies think tank.
Andreessen said that Chinese car brands are outperforming American EV automakers in affordability and quality, calling them “super technologically sophisticated.”
“For example, they’ve got this feature where you just come in, and you just drop your phone down on the center divider, and basically, the car lights up,” he said. “The whole system inside the car comes off your phone — like all your music and your maps and your calendar and all that stuff is just automatically there.”
The venture capitalist also highlighted other features, such as customized dancing animations in the LED headlights that greet the driver and self-driving capabilities, which are already integrated into several lower-cost Chinese EVs.
To keep up, American automakers need to be able to offer a similarly affordable and full-featured car at the $20,000 price point, Andreessen said.
They got em, they just try charging 35-40k for it and refuse to lower the price.
They’re afraid of setting an “affordability precedent”. They’d much rather sell overpriced SUVs and trucks with a higher profit margin.
Both Trump supporters. I’m sure establishing that supply chain to reduce costs will go well when every foreign good has a 30% tariff and every foreign nation slaps the same on our exports.
I don’t know. Have we tried releasing another $80k gas guzzler truck?
Andreesen is a hypocritical NIMBY who can go walk into the ocean for all I care. His opinion shouldn’t matter.
He’s probably right in this instance, but rich people do not deserve to be listened to just because they are rich.
Same goes for Germany… VW is going to fail and create a German Detroit otherwise. (Almost everyone in Wolfsburg is employed directly by VW or a company working for VW)
Germany’s exports value was 12% directly cars and much of the economy is tied to manufacturing either car parts or car-making machines and parts. Germany’s economy is really export-focused and highly dependent on China both import and export-wise.
This is wild. So… the Xiaomi CEO said “People know us for phones, but what if we made cars, too?” AND PULLED IT OFF.
Designing, engineering, and manufacturing a car isn’t something you just do for the hell of it. If you’re working on an industrial scale, and intend to do so profitably, it’s a very big deal. Where did they get the talent? How about the factory (or factories)? I don’t think I can overstate how difficult and complex this is.
It’s just mentioned casually, but Xiaomi deciding to go from cellphones to cars is, to me, a much more interesting story.
Then created a car so good that the CEO of Ford does not want to give it up. Impressive indeed.
BYD was just a cell phone battery company, and was like “well we’ve got the lithium supply chain locked down, you know what needs huge batteries: guess we’re doing cars now.”
Xiaomi started off in making android custom ROMs. I remembered my friend who sideloaded his LG optimus 2x with MIUI back in the day.
Is it possible to purchase a $20k ICE car that isn’t absolutely barebones?
The Ford Maverick has gone up in price a bit, but it launched at 20k. It was a hybrid 4-seater with a short truck bed and Android Auto/Airplay in the Entertainment system.
That’s pretty much everything I want.
Of course, they made like 12 of them, so the wait list to buy one was measured in years.
Who do we expect it from?
Ford? Not without outside help
Chrysler/Dodge? Lmao, 🤣 kek, even.
Chevy? Maaaaaybe? They have a history with small platforms and electrics.
The Chevy Bolt non-premium was like a $32k vehicle less $7.5k tax credit that put it at least ~$25k. It was a solid EV too, IMO.
Too bad Chevy killed it.
Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge isn’t an American company. The only domestics are Tesla, GM, Ford, and Rivian.
Well, true, but Andreassen can suck my cock.
Trying to price with China isn’t fair. The safety, quality and longevity standards are very different.
I mean teslas have lost steering wheels, gotten stuck with full throttle in software and hardware separately, died in the rain, caught on fire after hitting a fire hydrant, had the workers pass around video clips from the car surveilance at peoples homes of people doing laundry naked etc. Doesn’t sound much better to me.
The problem is China is progressing so rapidly in all three of these areas that there is great concern for western car companies.
How to you gauge quality and longevity on cars that have only been out for a couple of years?
We also have shareholders to think about.
China’s market is also fundamentally different. The buyers care more about function than they do form. This is what allows vehicles like the Changli to sell in China for about $1,000 USD. People import them for about triple that, and there you go, a four figure electric car. These days there are even some commercial outfits in the United States that import dozens at a time and sell them for about $10,000 USD for people that don’t want to deal with the bologna that comes with international imports.
The safety and quality are certainly on par with the cost, but at low speeds, we certainly don’t need advanced safety equipment. Accidents would be less common anyway if people had more reaction time as a result of driving slower. Besides, many repairs that may be needed will be simpler to perform due to the less complex construction.
Regarding longevity, there are people using these things on farms, on construction sites, and in college towns. Might not last twenty years, but seeing how buying a used car for $500 can end up costing you more than $40,000 over less than a decade, I’d say the Changli is extremely compelling given the cost per year of ownership.
I’d kill for a barebones subcompact sedan or hatchback EV. I’m sure if an automaker just focused on the strictly necessary stuff with a dashboard and seating similar to a 2010 Civic and no telemetry then they could bring the cost down to somewhere in the $20k to $25k range.
Automakers know they can get the poor ans uneducated to finance their lives away. Many people look at the monthly number and don’t even know the total cost of the vehicle.
Soon there will be nothing left that you buy outright—only subscriptions and loans.
