How important are Chinese cars in Europe? “There's a complete earthquake coming.”

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TG speaks with former Fiat-Chrysler Europe boss and now BYD advisor Alfredo Altavilla about the rise of Chinese electric vehicles…

Published: November 4, 2024

How important is it for Chinese cars to arrive in Europe? “There's a full-fledged earthquake coming. The magnitude of the earthquake is not yet known.” And he must know. This is Alfredo Altavilla, who ran Fiat Chrysler in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He is now a senior advisor to BYD. So he looked at the industry from both the Western and Chinese perspective.

He basically retired after Fiat Chrysler. So first I ask him why he came back – surely he has no need for the money? Because it's interesting, he says.

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“BYD's manufacturing and product development is unique. When I tried with Sergio Marchionne [the late FCA boss] To reduce the car development time there, it took us a lot of effort and money, and we were able to go from 33 months to 28 months. What a fantastic achievement: congratulations, gold medals everyone.

“But BYD is building a car from scratch in less than 18 months. That's unbelievable. The number of vehicles it will launch in the next 24 months seems unreal to an old turkey like me.”

TopGear.com asks how BYD employees do it. Are they taking more risks? Cut more corners? “I've never seen BYD's development process involve more risk. Maybe there's the attitude of working in high-tech environments. They're the largest single supplier of components to Apple. So they're used to coming up with innovation at a faster pace than any traditional manufacturer.”

But consumer electronics aren't as reliable as a car needs to be. “The tangible quality of BYD cars is at a level that a traditional manufacturer would have reached decades later. The designer of BYD cars is Wolfgang Egger. Wolfgang was with me, as a designer with me at Alfa. Without the badge, would you ever have said this is a Chinese car? ?

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He says they simply work hard. “It's really 24/7. The attitude is 'nothing is impossible.' This also provides a lot of confidence for engineers to come up with new ideas.

In other ways, BYD is unique. “Basically, the strategy is to become a European manufacturer. This is very different from what a lot of other Chinese OEMs want to do. They want to assemble cars in Europe but remain Chinese. BYD wants to become a local manufacturer with local R&D and product management Domestic This avoids tariffs.

His job is to create an organization to do this, and sell cars. I suggest that if the company is so interesting, and so intimidating to existing European automakers, he should find hiring easy. He immediately responds: “Jesus, this has been the easiest task of my life.” I have hundreds of CVs coming in from every manufacturer, which tells you a lot, not just about people's willingness to accept a new challenge.

He points out that this also means they are afraid for their current jobs. “It tells you how they live within the existing European manufacturers.

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“Ask yourself how MG achieved a 4 percent market share in two years, and how can BYD become one of the major players in Europe?”

He gives his eloquent answer. He says Germans in particular are frozen, thinking rather than acting. “They keep strategizing in their heads without any definitive answer.”

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