@lewd thank you for writing this down. Many details of the same debate I’m currently seeing with electric city/regional buses. Two Chinese manufacturers are rapidly gaining market share in the Netherlands by delivering reasonable good products in time, meanwhile Dutch producers are experiencing issues with getting the production upright again after the global logistics disruptions and other European manufacturers, especially German brands, have lost much of their market share compared to the combustion era.
From a consumer view point, the U-series from Yutong are some of the best buses I’ve ever experienced in the Netherlands. But we actually have no clue about any long time experiences (the oldest Yutong bus in the Netherlands is only 15 months old, and there are already over 250 in service and more on order) and what the Chinese are logging about these buses and what will happen if the relation with China turns sour. And it’s the same for BYD, although they very quickly gained a bad reputation after being involved in a fraud case and having long lasting quality issues in older series.
