Chinese automakers are selling cars overseas at nearly double the domestic price. This isn’t price gouging — it’s strategy. Take the Xiaopeng MONA L03, launched in Munich on July 16. In Germany, the pure EV version starts at €35,600 ($27.6K USD equivalent). In China, the same car starts at ¥123,800 ($17.2K). The markup is nearly … Read more
China is fighting a European war on two fronts. The first front is the product. The second front is the buyer. Marco Girometti has stood on both sides.
The Empire that Forgot to Enter the Next War Warren Buffett held BYD for seventeen years and exited in silence. The smartest investors I know are still arguing about whether BYD has won, but they are arguing about a war that is already over. The story is not BYD versus Volkswagen, but that the auto … Read more
VW will be bought by BYD, said Schularick. He’s wrong about the verb. Moritz Schularick, president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, said Volkswagen would “likely be bought by a Chinese car maker like BYD.” The press amplified it. Headlines ran with “buys” and “takes over.” A few editorial cartoonists went further, drawing … Read more
The Wuhan-Paris Axis: How Stellantis Rewrites the Transatlantic EV Playbook Part I Three Things to Know • Stellantis is turning its Wuhan joint venture into an engineering classroom — European engineers are learning Chinese EV platform development firsthand. • The deal repurposes idle European factories (Rennes, Zaragoza) to assemble Dongfeng-derived models, bypassing EU anti-subsidy duties. … Read more
Trump, the Nation Builder: How an Accidental Architect Built the Nation of Engineers As Air Force One touches down in a self-assured Beijing this May 14th, 2026, a curious moniker echoes across the Chinese internet: Chuan Jianguo (川建国)—or “Trump, the Nation Builder”. It is a title born of exquisite geopolitical irony. To the Chinese public, … Read more
The Robot Belt Weekly: China’s Top 10 Tech Stories May 3–10, 2026 | The Intelligence Briefing from Shenzhen #1 DeepSeek’s \$45B Gambit: China’s AI Crown Jewel Finally Opens Its Doors Source: TechCrunch | TechNode | The Silicon Review DeepSeek is reportedly shifting from its “maverick” roots to a mainstream powerhouse, eyeing a staggering $45 billion … Read more
The Yangtze’s new motor city How Wuhan, a metropolis nearly 1,000 kilometres from the ocean, is reshaping the global trade in automobiles. To gaze upon the muddy waters of the Yangtze as it winds through Wuhan is to look at the undisputed industrial heartland of inland China. Located roughly 1,000 kilometres from the nearest coastline, … Read more
Hong Kong, the unexpected winner of the Iran War As missiles rain on the Gulf, something else entirely is skyrocketing in a familiar safe harbour. By Jaime Xiao As Iranian and Israeli missiles illuminate the night skies over the Middle East, the ensuing panic in global energy markets has triggered a ferocious, structurally permanent pivot … Read more
The Mathematical Illusion of “Aiming Higher”: Why China’s Sub-5% Growth is a Structural Certainty The shift from demographic dividend to intelligent capital: Automation is the necessary macroeconomic response to a shrinking workforce. The Economist recently published a critique of the Chinese government’s 2026 Government Work Report, arguing that policymakers are “dangerously rooted in the past” … Read more