I admit it, I wasn't wrong

Well dear reader, it's been fun while it lasted. It might be the end the financial line for me. Not because I'm not making a dime from this newsletter, although it is keeping me sane, but because there might be some people lining up to take my money from me. I don't mean kids on fatbikes either. I can take those with ease. I mean the whole of the People Republic of China. And even if those tiny f*ckers are, well, tiny, they have numbers on their side.

Yes, I know, I have some explaining to do. First of all, I'm very much speculating and exaggerating. So there is that. But I've also been less than positive about Chinese car manufacturers. I've said BYD and others might be cutting corners and that proof of this will come in the future. Well, turns out that future has already come to pass. BYD has been featured in reviews that imply that it makes battery packs in a way that isn't really great. Multiple times from multiple sources. But it seems that all those sources are wrong and have to be sued into oblivion.

This week a Chinese blogger was sued by BYD for proving that the manufacturer built battery packs in a less than good way, with no regards for reparability. BYD saw that as defamation and sued. The proof the blogger provided was deemed shit or irrelevant, so the judge ordered the blogger to pay two million yuan (about 250.000 euro's) and apologize publicly. Both of which he has done.

This has two sides. When a journalist claims to find shitty stuff about a company, he or she has to be able to back that up with credible facts. If that's impossible, the claims shouldn't be published. On the other side, car manufacturers shouldn't be be able to sue bloggers or journalist this easily. It sends a message into the world that talking negative about certain companies can ruin your life very quickly, even if there is merit to the claims.

In this case BYD has already been caught trying to prevent any negative remarks about their products. As a journalist you sometimes have to sign an NDA, or Non-Disclosure Agreement. I've signed dozens of the things, which usually state I get to publish content about what I'm about to see and experience after a certain date and time, or else pay a fine for which I will have to sell my house. Nothing wrong so far. But BYD went a bit further. It added a passage in which it said that the one signing the document also had to pay a fine if he or she was found to be overly negative about the car they were going to review. A lot of journalist refused to sign. A lot of influencers didn't care.

Having said that, I'd like to take this moment to explain to my dearest Chinese readers, I have also, in fact, been very positive about the products you're producing. For example, I've said Zeekr is better than Rolls-Royce. I've also told my readers it's cool that a Denza Z9 GT can wipe it's ass. And I've been very much awaiting my ride in the Nebula NEXT 01 JET Edition. I've also been critisizing Europeans. I've called Porsche fat and said I'm already disappointed with the Ferrari Elettrica. See, I'm on your side.

In other news

You probably know that Chinese car manufacturers are usually accused of harvesting all the data they can get their hands on, especially if it's from Europeans driving their cars into military bases. But turns out that is FALSE. According to a study car manufacturers don't actually need your data since it's worth nothing. So interest in knowing when you pick your nose is dwindling. And yes, we are going to take these findings at face value, even if we know it's based on a questionnaire that has been sent out to automotive industry professionals across seven markets. Why? Because we now know they always speak the positive truth or risk getting sued.

Recently, I had to send my BMW X1 for the mandatory MOT. It passed with flying colors, because we keep up maintenance. A pricy endeavour, I admit, but nothing in comparison with owning a Mercedes-AMG One. Imagine receiving that thing, driving to the shops and back, and having to have it collected for a routine service check of, hold on to your chair, 37.610 euro's. That is after having driven 185 km. But to put things into perspective: the car costs around 3 million. So I guess having a service interval every 200 km for about 40.000 euro's is to be expected. A nice way of Mercedes to help the 'trickle down' economy, I guess. They're keeping their mechanics employed after all...

We're ending with a little know top tip: buy that Fisker Ocean. Please do while it's still cheap. Yes, the software has issues and there is limited support, but that's being worked on. There is the newly established FOA (Fisker Owners Association), of which all members actively work on open source fixes to the software and help the with providing information on repairs and even help to negotiate lower prices on parts to fix common problems. It's like the BMW-forums of old all over again! I like it.