Monday Message Board
Open for discussion
Another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. As a reward to paying subscribers, I’m limiting comments to them. But if you want to comment for free, you can do so at my blog
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This really pales into insignificance if you consider the carnage in Gaza.
But, if the Remuneration Tribunal can grant Federal parliamentarians a 3.6/4% pay rise (significant in terms of their previous $210,000pa), who decides what benefits the unemployed should receive?
Apparently, an unemployment rate of 3% is 'good' for the economy (is that correct?) so why shouldn't unemployment benefits be linked to some measure such as the Henderson poverty line?
There were some increases in benefits paid to different categories recently but I remember the amount paid to carers was only five dollars something per fortnight, bringing them up to a weekly payment of around $80. If you were a carer, surely it would be more than a 40 hours per week commitment. Who decides the value of what people do?
BYD Seagull
For light relief, try looking up`one of the many videos on YouTube of test drives of the BYD Seagull small electric car. (Just Google “YouTube BYD Seagull test drive”.) It’s on sale in China and a few Latin American countries, but not in the USA, Australia, or the EU, though it’s likely to arrive in the latter two in the course of the year.
I think we are looking at a revolutionary car, at the level of the Ford Model T or the Volkswagen Beetle. Like them, it cannot boast any radical technical innovation. It’s state of the art, not beyond it. What BYD has done is put it all together in a very attractive package for the unbeatable price in China of 69,700 yuan, or $US 9,700 – cheaper than the ICEV competition.
To get below the $10,000 benchmark, the base model has a cut-down battery. The extra $2,300 for a 400 km range on the Chinese standard and 300 km on the European one looks essential for very many buyers. Even the base model is well-equipped, with nice handling, airbags, good seats, and a decent driving assistance package including a rear-view camera. It’s a much better car than the competition. There may be niche manufacturers with models of similar quality, but limiting the comparison to major manufacturers, BYD are clearly well ahead.
It is conceivable that BYD are selling the Seagull at cost or below during the ramp-up, but not for long. They are in a position to drive costs down by economies of scale, especially as they make their own batteries. Cars are increasingly computers on wheels, and the marginal cost of software per car is zero.
Small cars (Segments A and B in the European classification) accounted for 22% of all new cars in Europe in 2022 ( https://www.acea.auto/figure/new-passenger-cars-by-segment-in-eu/): the largest share by size, seeing that the SUV category is a catch-all not a size. Segment A, tiny urban runabouts, is insignificant outside Japan and segment B, proper 4-door 4-seaters, is what counts. The global market share is probably higher, but to be conservative, let’s say the potential market is 20% of 77m a year, or 15.4m. BYD are going to make millions of Seagulls, the people’s electric vehicle.
The CEO of BYD is Wang Chuanfu. You havn’t heard of him or his wife. He shows up at the office and confines his public statements to matters affecting his company. Tesla might try this.