Tesla tore apart Chinese EVs to figure out how they keep costs down and discovered one game-changing secret

A former Tesla executive has revealed that the company once tore apart Chinese EVs to figure out how they kept costs down – and discovered one secret that changed everything.

John McNeill was the president of Tesla between 2015 and 2018, when the company was working on the Model 3 and the Model Y.

During this period, the American company took some pointers from EVs made over in China.

In doing so, the manufacturer saved a whole lot of money.

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What Tesla learned from Chinese EVs that saved a lot of money

It was during an interview with Business Insider that McNeill revealed what Tesla learned from its eastern rivals.

Describing his former employer as a ‘learning sponge’, McNeill revealed that Chinese EVs were a big source of creative inspiration.

And the company needed it – the Model 3 was stuck in ‘production hell’.

But thanks to the automakers from China, the company had a revelation about how it could cut costs and speed up the manufacturing process.

“The Chinese engineers are really disciplined about reusing parts underneath the hood that the customer can’t see, and they save a lot of money that way,” McNeill said.

Relating it to BYD, he said the windshield wiper motor and heat pumps would be the same across all cars.

This philosophy of parts sharing was carried through to the Model Y and Model 3.

Elon Musk himself said that they share about 75 percent of the same parts, including powertrains, door handles, and buttons.

Thanks to this, production costs were reduced, and savings were passed on to the customer.

This helped make the Model 3 a smash hit when it was rolled out in 2018.

American manufacturers will be keeping a close eye on their competition in China

Chinese brands have been on the up in recent years, with BYD leading the pack in many people’s minds.

This year alone has seen the brand secure itself some great headlines, when it overtook Tesla for sales in Europe, in addition to it rolling out lightning-fast charging on the continent.

The company is also eying up the UK and Japan as places in which it can outdo Tesla.

And with plans to sell all of its vehicles in Europe by 2028, it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

While tariffs may shut them out of the American marketplace, this can’t be guaranteed forever.

Ford’s CEO declared that Ford had ‘no future’ if it couldn’t compete with the cars coming out of China.

And with one study finding more than half of Americans open to buying a Chinese car, time is ticking.

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