【Observer Research Foundation, Pan Yuchen, Editor/Gao Xin】According to a report by "Business Insider" on November 27, Jon McNeill, former global sales director of Tesla and current member of General Motors' board, said that Tesla has been disassembling its competitors' cars and drawing valuable experience from Chinese electric vehicles.

McNeill worked at Tesla from 2015 to 2018 and said that Tesla is a "learning sponge." And car manufacturers are constantly learning from Chinese competitors, and Tesla is no exception.

Jon McNeill Business Insider

During McNeill's tenure at Tesla, the company was in the "production hell" of the Model 3. He revealed that Tesla learned about parts reuse from Chinese electric vehicles, which was reflected in the Model 3 and Model Y later on.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned in a 2019 earnings call that the Model Y shared about three-quarters of its parts with the Model 3, thus increasing production.

McNeill did not reveal which Chinese electric vehicles Tesla disassembled during his time there, but he said that General Motors recently disassembled BYD's cars and found that Chinese automakers have taken part reuse to a new level.

Yangwang U9X Visual China

"Chinese engineers extensively reuse parts under the hood that users cannot see, thereby significantly reducing costs," McNeill said.

The automotive industry has long reused components such as steering wheels or shift levers. But McNeill said that Chinese automakers are different in terms of the extent of component reuse, achieving reuse of parts such as battery packs, heat pumps inside car seats, and motors.

"All BYD models have the same windshield, wiper motor, heat pump, and ducts," McNeill said. Chinese automakers reusing these parts is 'super smart,' because changing these parts like windshields or wiper motors does not change or add to the car's user experience.

As a contrast, Toyota uses completely different heat pumps, wiper motors, or seat controllers for each model. McNeill said this means the internal structures of Corolla and Camry are completely different.

Part reuse is crucial for any automaker to scale up production and reduce costs, especially for new entrants in the automotive industry.

Tesla Model Y Visual China

McNeill said that in the past 100 years, only one newly established automaker (Tesla) has scaled up. Because the automotive industry is capital-intensive, it is extremely difficult to scale up. He added that American electric vehicle companies like Tesla need to "absolutely ruthlessly" reduce costs.

Another new entrant, Rivian's CEO Scaringe, previously stated that Rivian disassembled Xiaomi's SU7 and praised Xiaomi's "highly vertically integrated" technology platform. However, he believed that the way Xiaomi or other Chinese automakers produce cars is not new, and Rivian can learn from them to make electric vehicles cheaper.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7577670358527803955/

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