Stellantis Eyes Leapmotor To Bring Affordable EVs To India

Perhaps this will work for India, but I no longer see imported Chinese EVs as viable in our market. Between the the tariff situation and the belligerence of the CCP regime, things are no longer rosy. The current joke is that BYD stands for "borrows your data", in that personal data such as the vehicles location, the owner's own personal data, the driver's linked cell phone data, and images from the vehicle's cameras have evidenced being sent back to China.

I believe there is a solid business case for small battery electric vehicles, especially for an urban setting. That is where many charging locations are. Despite its brief production run I see a lot of Chevy Bolts within a 5 mile radius of the CBD where I live. Even in the first ring suburbs one can see a number of Nissan Leafs and other such EVs. Increasingly in our market the only sedans that continue to sell decently are either battery electric or hybrid. The styling and interior controls must be familiar to American drivers, something like the Chrysler Halcyon which looks like a 1950's Sci-Fi prop will probably flop here. Most of the Leap products controls and interiors would flop here as well. Early adapters buy into the weirdness, but they already own an EV, the broader market wants something familiar.

If Stellantis wants to use Leap's technology to build battery electrics in and / for our market that's fine with me. I just don't want my cell phone data being sent to China.

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Your seeing what SLATE motors is doing, this is the Chinese approach to EV adoption, not high end but low end of the market.

See my comments here, Tribute To The Compact Pickup: Jeep® Comanche Concept

and Post#7 here, Large Electric Pickup Trucks Are a Scam

The Slate project has gone viral, but the other EV story which remains relatively quiet is Walmart is getting involved with the the EV charging business. Which means all those Slate and other low-end EV owners will have a network for their needs.

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Perhaps this will work for India, but I no longer see imported Chinese EVs as viable in our market. Between the the tariff situation and the belligerence of the CCP regime, things are no longer rosy. The current joke is that BYD stands for "borrows your data", in that personal data such as the vehicles location, the owner's own personal data, the driver's linked cell phone data, and images from the vehicle's cameras have evidenced being sent back to China.

I believe there is a solid business case for small battery electric vehicles, especially for an urban setting. That is where many charging locations are. Despite its brief production run I see a lot of Chevy Bolts within a 5 mile radius of the CBD where I live. Even in the first ring suburbs one can see a number of Nissan Leafs and other such EVs. Increasingly in our market the only sedans that continue to sell decently are either battery electric or hybrid. The styling and interior controls must be familiar to American drivers, something like the Chrysler Halcyon which looks like a 1950's Sci-Fi prop will probably flop here. Most of the Leap products controls and interiors would flop here as well. Early adapters buy into the weirdness, but they already own an EV, the broader market wants something familiar.

If Stellantis wants to use Leap's technology to build battery electrics in and / for our market that's fine with me. I just don't want my cell phone data being sent to China.

Do you honestly think the Indians get along better with the Chinese?

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