Chinese SUVs are 'iPhone moment' for the motor industry

There are a number of infamous quotes from the then co-CEOs of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion following Apple's unveiling of the iPhone in 2007.

- Moneyweb

Privately, executives at the Canadian company were in awe that Apple had managed to pack so many features into a smartphone, but they didn't exactly rush to build a competitor.

Instead, they doubled down on their core feature (a physical keyboard) and were content to comfort themselves by pointing to the difficult-to-use on-screen keyboard on the iPhone and the device's terrible battery life.

In public, they were downright dismissive.

And now to SUVs...

One tends to get a similar sense when chatting to insiders—not salespeople—at established brands in the vehicle retail sector in South Africa.

The refrain is often familiar as the number of Chinese brands explodes in SA, especially over the past six to nine months.

Many are simply unwilling to accept the price points the SUVs are retailing at.

They cannot fathom, for example, that an Omoda C5 starts at R329 900. The new VW Golf, as an example (and not directly comparable as they are in different segments), starts at R580 900.