I'm currently residing in a major oil exporter and I still see BYD cars daily, the Seal is gorgeous. I think EVs have about 3% of the market here, and Lucid has a factory not too far from where I live.

If I were to buy an EV it will probably be the Bestune Mini. For some reason it costs 2x as much as it does in its home country -not tariffs, there's barely any, and VAT is 15% on all products imported or domestic- but that still makes it the cheapest car on sale here, EV or otherwise.

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago

That legitimately looks as bare-bones as possible in this day and age - and I’m all for it.

In terms of the cost difference - I would assume the source nation has a local subsidy that doesn’t apply to exports, in addition to the logistics, warehousing costs of shipping a vehicle overseas.

Personally, we’ve got our eyes on the BYD ATTO 2 as a local run-around for outer suburbia here in Australia. Even our shortest trips are 10-15 minutes each one way (and no public transport options), and most commutes are ~45 minutes.