Andreessen Horowitz founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz said on their podcast that Chinese automakers have developed high-quality and affordable vehicles supported by a robust supply chain ecosystem.
With the American auto industry struggling with slowing growth in its EV market, American automakers need to be able to offer a compelling $20,000 EV that also competes on quality if the US doesn't want to "lose the auto industry," Andreessen said.
"What China has now is not just really good car companies, but they've got this entire constellation of supply chain componentry," Andreessen said.
China's government has spent at least $230 billion to support electric vehicle makers such as BYD since 2009, according to a study published in 2024 by the Centre for Strategic & International Studies think tank.
Andreessen said that Chinese car brands are outperforming American EV automakers in affordability and quality, calling them "super technologically sophisticated."
"For example, they've got this feature where you just come in, and you just drop your phone down on the center divider, and basically, the car lights up," he said. "The whole system inside the car comes off your phone — like all your music and your maps and your calendar and all that stuff is just automatically there."
The venture capitalist also highlighted other features, such as customized dancing animations in the LED headlights that greet the driver and self-driving capabilities, which are already integrated into several lower-cost Chinese EVs.
To keep up, American automakers need to be able to offer a similarly affordable and full-featured car at the $20,000 price point, Andreessen said.
Trying to price with China isn't fair. The safety, quality and longevity standards are very different.
I mean teslas have lost steering wheels, gotten stuck with full throttle in software and hardware separately, died in the rain, caught on fire after hitting a fire hydrant, had the workers pass around video clips from the car surveilance at peoples homes of people doing laundry naked etc. Doesn't sound much better to me.
China's market is also fundamentally different. The buyers care more about function than they do form. This is what allows vehicles like the Changli to sell in China for about $1,000 USD. People import them for about triple that, and there you go, a four figure electric car. These days there are even some commercial outfits in the United States that import dozens at a time and sell them for about $10,000 USD for people that don't want to deal with the bologna that comes with international imports.
The safety and quality are certainly on par with the cost, but at low speeds, we certainly don't need advanced safety equipment. Accidents would be less common anyway if people had more reaction time as a result of driving slower. Besides, many repairs that may be needed will be simpler to perform due to the less complex construction.
Regarding longevity, there are people using these things on farms, on construction sites, and in college towns. Might not last twenty years, but seeing how buying a used car for $500 can end up costing you more than $40,000 over less than a decade, I'd say the Changli is extremely compelling given the cost per year of ownership.
The problem is China is progressing so rapidly in all three of these areas that there is great concern for western car companies.
How to you gauge quality and longevity on cars that have only been out for a couple of years?
We also have shareholders to think about.