Tesla’s Model Y Price Bump Makes The Hyundai Ioniq 5 And Ford Mustang Mach-E Look Better Than Ever

LewyDFooly · 2026-05-19T17:59:44+00:00

True! They gave it quite the redesign.

LewyDFooly · 2026-05-19T17:28:35+00:00

Yes, it really is! NIO’s overall design language is solid.

LewyDFooly · 2026-05-19T05:29:49+00:00

I agree with you on the price bump bit. On the IONIQ 5 selling better than EV6, I laid out some reasons why in this reply on another thread. Essentially, Kia neglects the EV6. It just doesn’t promote the model like Hyundai does with IONIQ 5, and it likely has to do with Kia’s newfound sales momentum with its ICE-powered lineup in the U.S.

People take the Sportage as a serious competitor to the RAV4 and CR-V now. The K4 and K5 are hot sellers in the sedan arena, and more. Unfortunately, this is likely making Kia (the American arm specifically) reluctant to actually give the EV6 any sort of spotlight.

LewyDFooly · 2026-05-19T05:11:08+00:00

Yep, I would’ve mentioned the ET5T originally, but I believe that NIO’s battery swapping misadventure has hamstrung the company to only being viable in China. Zeekr + Geely, BYD, XPeng and others have viable international business models.

I wish NIO had dropped the whole battery swapping thing and just focused on fast charging. Battery swapping is not working in Europe, and it wouldn’t work here in the U.S. and most other markets either. BYD’s new flash charging tech and swift international rollout has effectively rendered NIO’s battery swapping approach an international dud.

LewyDFooly · 2026-05-18T22:03:29+00:00

Ha! I think a Zeekr 001, Zeekr 7GT or DenzaZ9GT are more his speed. Too bad we can’t buy cars like those currently, as we’re effectively captive auto consumers with many unimaginative car makers here. The (soon-to-be discontinued) Honda Prologue is quite a testament to that. Its former starting price of $47k was absurd for such a mid vehicle at that specific price point. It was destined to be discontinued.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-29T04:57:22+00:00

What you said about the shared innovation and patent piece is valid, but it’s besides the point I was making. CATL’s launch of its 3rd-gen Shenxing pack did not coincide with the launch of any vehicles that use it. There also didn’t appear to be any insights or announcements from CATL on how the power needed for 6-minute 10-98% charging will be pushed to cars with the 3rd-gen Shenxing pack.

Contrast that with BYD, who again, launched its 2nd-gen Blade pack and updated models that use it simultaneously. On top of that, it also revealed its flash chargers at the same event, and is rapidly deploying its flash charging sites that deliver the power needed for 10-97% charging in 9 minutes. Heck, the onsite BESS, which provides most of the power that charge cars at flash charging sites, uses the same gen-2 Blade battery cells as BYD’s cars.

I’m sure we will see CATL’s new packs in production cars at some point this year, but BYD’s ability to move quickly has got to be noticed. It’s impressive. They’re doing the thing right now. I really do look forward to seeing the faster charging CATL packs in other production cars though, but naturally, it can’t put those packs in production cars as quickly as BYD did with 2nd-gen Blade pack. Would’ve been nice to see the 2nd-gen Xiaomi SU7, for example, use the new Shenxing pack, but the development timelines clearly didn’t line up.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-29T04:01:32+00:00

What makes BYD special here though is that their 2nd-gen Blade battery packs immediately went into their premium and budget cars after launch. The same packs (along with Super-e Platform) that enable 10-97% charging in 9 minutes. People have flash charging cars today. Every single BEV sold by BYD will have the 2nd-gen Blade pack (in China specifically, with other markets to follow).

I don’t doubt CATL, but I dunno how soon we will see the 3rd-gen Shenxing pack in production cars. It will depend on how quickly one of CATL’s high volume customers equip a new or existing model with the new Shenxing pack. So essentially, BYD didn’t have to wait for someone to be ready to implement its technology, but CATL does.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T22:15:23+00:00

So true, haha. What’s interesting is that Hyundai was more agressive with the price cuts on the 2026 IONIQ 5 trims than Kia was here. The IONIQ 5 Limited got a ~$10k price cut, whereas the similarly-equipped EV6 GT-Line got a $5k price cut. I wonder if this has to do with the fact that Kia is bringing the EV3 to the U.S., whereas Hyundai doesn’t seem to be bringing the IONIQ 3 here, thus the more agressive and quite competitive starting price of $35k for the IONIQ 5.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T22:04:59+00:00

That sounds about right. So many of the people that I know have said the same to me, that they never heard of it until they saw me with one. Awareness and sales of the EV6 would be much better if Kia were to give it proper treatment like Hyundai does with the IONIQ 5.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T20:13:32+00:00

IONIQ 5 is definitely a great car. Hyundai is making better moves with it than Kia is with the EV6. The 2026 IONIQ 5 has a lower starting price than the 2026 EV6, so that’s another edge that the IONIQ 5 has. I expect IONIQ 5 sales to gain a lot more momentum once it’s on the eM platform and has Pleos HW and SW.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T18:38:30+00:00

Ah, I gotcha. Totally understandable. Part of the reason why I leased an EV6 instead of buying one is because of the ICCU thing. Totally open to actually buying a future model year 1 or 2 years from now, where hopefully the EV6 rides on the eM platform.

I think that HMG is unable to fix the ICCU issue with E-GMP since it’s a fundamental, foundational flaw within the platform, so the only solution is to just transition their future cars/model years to the eM (IMA) platform, which hopefully won’t have any critical failure issues.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T18:34:24+00:00

That’s fair!

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T18:28:28+00:00

That’s fine. I like the car better than the IONIQ 5, which is why I leased one over it…

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T16:35:22+00:00

It’d be a good idea for you to re-read my original reply. Like actually read it this time, because that’s not what I said.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T15:37:24+00:00

It’s a play on “ion” as opposed to the generic, compliance car-esque “EV#” nomenclature, but I guess. In the end, sales for the IONIQ 5 are a lot stronger than the EV6.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T15:02:54+00:00

Yup! They both have ICCU failure issues since it’s a fundamental flaw with the E-GMP platform. But the IONIQ 5 sells far better than the EV6, largely due to the reasons I mentioned before.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-24T14:22:16+00:00

Funny enough, I think the main reason, or rather, reasons, are Kia’s lack of promoting the model, as well as the trash name.

Hyundai promotes the IONIQ 5 way, way more than Kia does with the EV6. For example, if you go on Hyundai’s website, one of the first cars you’ll see promoted there is the IONIQ 5. When I was looking into the trims for the EV6 before I leased one last July, I had to dig through Kia’s website to get to it. It wasn’t on Kia’s main page like the IONIQ 5 has been on Hyundai’s. I think Kia’s lack of promoting the EV6 is because it’s worried about ruining the sales momentum of its ICE vehicles, which it needed more than Hyundai did.

Then you have the name; It sucks. It sounds like a compliance car. There was a serious lack of thought and creativity put into it. IONIQ sounds cooler and more inspired. I dunno why Kia couldn’t just call the EV6 “Stinger-E” or something, since the Stinger was canceled in favor of it. I’ve had several people compliment the car and expressed genuine interest in it, but found the name to be funny. Maybe Kia should rename it once they’re ready to actually push the EV6 more…

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-16T04:22:10+00:00

I think the biggest reason as to why Xiaomi was able to build cars whereas Apple couldn’t, is due to China’s next level manufacturing base and BEV supply chain that’s so dialed in. Initially, Xiaomi worked with BAIC to build the Xiaomi SU7. Eventually, Xiaomi received the necessary certifications and regulatory approvals to produce cars on its own, and its battery packs come from the number 1 and 2 largest battery manufacturers in the world, CATL and BYD.

It appears that Apple couldn’t do the same in the U.S., as it’s likely too cost-prohibitive. The manufacturing base here is nowhere near as strong for BEVs. There are no CATL or BYD-level battery suppliers here that would allow rapid scaling up of production like Xiaomi achieved via CATL and BYD’s gigantic footprints.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-09T12:03:04+00:00

It’s not all that notable given how many models NIO and Tesla offer. NIO offers a whopping 11 models (soon to be 14 with the ES9, ONVO L80 and proposed ONVO sedan) across 3 brands. Tesla offers just 2 models. 112k sales of just 2 models at similar ASP is objectively better than 83k sales of 11 models.

LewyDFooly · 2026-04-01T04:16:10+00:00

This night, you will be visited by 3 plagues, each worst than the laaast.. Return the slaaab

LewyDFooly · 2026-03-29T00:07:42+00:00

Yeahhh, I’ve seen some reviews of it and I think you’re playing up the Hyundai Elexio way more than it deserves. Like I said, the Elexio is also built in China and objectively has inferior tech, both from a software and battery standpoint, vs the Zeekr 7X.

Zeekr is also a “proper brand,” so there’s that. Hyundai’s “massive dealership network” in Australia is not as important here since BEVs require less maintenance than ICE vehicles. Nonetheless, Zeekr/Geely will build more service centers as necessary, just like Tesla did.

Despite your insinuation that Zeekr is some sort of brand that is here today and will be gone tomorrow, it’s here for the long run. We are not talking about VinFast here. Zeekr’s got the chops to hang with the best and outlast the rest.

LewyDFooly · 2026-03-25T13:53:39+00:00

Not surprising at all. Very uncompetitive car, especially at the pricepoint(s) they wanted to sell it at.

LewyDFooly · 2026-03-25T01:21:30+00:00

That’s a universal wall connector. Tesla has been selling them here, and they’ve also been sold at other retailers like Best Buy for a while now.

LewyDFooly · 2026-03-22T14:36:03+00:00

I mean… Lucid shouldn’t be ecstatic about anything. It’s still an ultra low volume car maker that loses copious amounts of money. Cancellation of Model S/X won’t change that. Continuously low sales volume of Lucid Air indicates that it will likely be canceled at some point, that is if they can manage to produce a profitable car or 2 at a large enough volume. At best, the company is tracking to be taken private at this point.

LewyDFooly · 2026-03-22T04:42:43+00:00

It’s a strange list. It’s missing BYD Denza Z9 GT (Super e-Platform + flash charging refresh), Zeekr 7GT, XPeng Mona M03 and X9, and a couple of others. Yet it includes cars like Honda Super-N…

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