An Ode to BYD
I did an extended test drive of the BYD Atto 3.
BYD design is out of the world. The cars look so sleek when you see one drive by:
I’ve never seen a door handle that looks like
You slide the top surface to open the door.
When you put your water bottle or other things in the door pocket, instead of a plastic piece, you have three strings to hold it in place. You can pluck it, and it makes a sound, a different frequency for the three different strings, like a guitar.
The center console looks sleek, like it’s from the future:
Even the AC vents at the top are unique. Notice the vertical dials (with red accents) on either side of the AC vents — you rotate them to open and close the vent.
This looks like it belongs to a starship that has the ability to travel faster than light! Perhaps if I push the lever all the way forward?
The volume control on the steering wheel is unique, too. Instead of + and - buttons, there’s a shiny steel knob that I spin. It feels heavy and solid.
Most other cars look like clones of each other with a different logo stuck on. And there’s a reason for this — these designs that have evolved over a decade or longer. Over this time, a wide variety of people have tested it under varied circumstances. As a result, problems have been identified and fixed, resulting in a highly evolved design. Copying this design for your car is a safe choice — there will be no serious problems. Let’s give this a rating of 8 out of 10.
Sometimes, companies try to innovate in design, aiming for 10/10. But when you create a unique design, like a fridge with pull-out drawers, you may find that your design fails for reasons you could not foresee. Your new design hasn’t been tested extensively over a decade. And no customer wants a unique design that works poorly in their day-to-day life. People will instead pick highly functional but run of the mill. Innovative design is too risky. Companies that try it hoping for 10/10 often end up at 5/10. That’s why most cars, smartphones and microwave ovens look identical. They’ve settled for 8/10.
BYD took the risk, and actually achieved 10/10.
BYD doesn’t yet have the prestige of Mercedes, BMW, Audi or Jaguar. But, as Paul Graham says, prestige is a lagging indicator. These legacy brands are prestigious for what they’ve done for the past few decades, not for what they’re doing today. Which isn’t good: BMW has sold some cars with defective components that rusted!
Mercedes has collaborated with Renault Nissan and you can get the same platform and engine as some Mercs from Nissan at half the price. In fact, the Mercedes EQE has had ZERO sales in China for a month:
The Audi E-Tron has also sold zero cars in China in both Aug and Oct:
Even the Germans have read the writing on the wall.
As for Jaguar:
This is even before their catastrophic woke rebranding. As Elon Musk asked:
If I buy a Jaguar, I’ll be communicating to everyone around me that I’m a gay social justice warrior. No, thank you.
The car industry is going through a major transition to electric. When such a transition happens, it’s typically newcomers who win, as Google did in the move to cloud from desktop apps, where Microsoft ruled. Or as Microsoft won in the move to PC from mainframes, where IBM ruled. Legacy companies tend to be controlled by older people, who are more stuck in the older ways of doing things. Legacy companies also have processes, culture and unions that have been firmly established over decades that resist change. Newcomers also have the hunger and the drive to prove themselves, so they’ll go the extra mile1.
BYD is inspirational. It’s out of my budget today, but hopefully, one day…
The products we buy communicate to others and to ourselves what we stand for. If you stand for having first principles thinking rather than being run of the mill, if you stand for pollution-free transport, if you stand for taste and design, if you have an optimistic view of the future and of mankind’s potential for greatness, buy BYD2.
Pun not intended.
If you’re looking for a practical assessment of its strengths (+) and weaknesses (-) of the Atto 3, here goes:
+ 360 degree camera
+ Reverse camera shows path as you rotate steering wheel
+ Adaptive cruise control
± Heavy doors
+ Roof light turns on when you tap gently on glass
- No rain-sensing wiper
- Can’t honk with a finger
Electric
- Electric only
- The salesman claims 350 km real-world range in all modes, and this Reddit post claims 394 km.
+ CCS2 port
+ Fast-charges at 80 KW.
+ Takes 1 hour 30 min for a full charge.
+ Included is a 7.2 KW charger that is permanently installed at home.
+ … and a 3.6 KW portable charger
+ The battery has a blade technology where you can replace only the blade that needs replacing.
Comfort
+ Can stretch legs comfortably
+ Steering wheel doesn’t touch legs
+ Electrically adjustable seat
Driving
- Lurches forward slightly when you release the brake
± The brake is very sensitive
- Electronically limited to 169 kph
+ Safe and stable at 169
+ Reached 169 easily
+ You feel the road vibration at 140+
+ In Sport mode, when you floor it, you’re pushed back in your seat even at 130.
Digital features
- The car has a SIM, which the salesman told me will be activated only in 2025.
- Mappis Maps (but not till the SIM card is activated)
+ USB-C port (but have to use A for CarPlay)
Cooling
+ Panoramic sunroof
+ Climate control
- No ventilated seats
- AC temperature adjustment requires fiddling with touchscreen while driving
- Can’t turn on AC remotely
- No rear window sunshades
- The center console is not chilled but has a gap for the AC air to supposedly go in.
- Windows don’t roll down fully.
Safety
+ Seat belt pretensioner with load limiter
+ Adjustable seat belt
+ Electronic stability control
+ Lane departure warning
- Airbag doesn’t protect stomach and hip.
+ Airbag between driver and front passenger
+ Multi-collision brake
+ Emergency brake assist
+ Blind spot monitoring
Front passenger seat
+ 6-way electrically adjustable
- Can’t stretch legs comfortably
- Height isn’t adjustable
- Headroom is not great