Apple should have learnt a Chinese lesson on EVs

Almost overnight, phone companies have become major car-making players in China, feeding into a booming industry.

- David Fickling

High-tech manufacturing in China over the past year has often felt like watching a looking-glass parody of the US.

In America, electric vehicles (EVs) have been in retreat all year. General Motors and Ford Motor have scaled back expansion plans and cut jobs amid flagging demand for battery cars. Analyst expectations for Tesla's fiscal 2024 net income are barely a third of what they were two years ago. Even Apple junked its 10-year, multibillion-dollar secretive project to build a revolutionary EV.

On the other side of the Pacific, things couldn't be more different. Battery and plug-in cars, which made up just 5 per cent or so of the market in 2020, comprised 49.8 per cent of all car sales in October, and only one out of the top 10 sellers came without a plug. Even the threat of tariffs from trade partners has barely slowed manufacturers' global ambitions. What's more, phone companies have, almost overnight, become major players.

Xiaomi made a name for itself selling US$100 (S$135) smartphones that do a decent imitation of far costlier Apple and Samsung Electronics products. In March, just a month after Apple told employees that its Project Titan car initiative was being shut down, chief executive Lei Jun announced his bid to do the same thing for sports cars.