Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing

Chinese car guy living in Europe 🇨🇳🇪🇺
I buy, drive & sell cars across China and Europe.
Prices, cars and things the brochures don’t tell you.

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

I buy and land cars — China, Korea, the Gulf, the US, the EU — into the Balkans.

17 years in this business. Mechanic by trade. Track and rally licences. I don’t review cars from a press seat. I move them.

Right now I can help with:
• stock in Horgoš / Serbia
• factory orders (ZEEKR, Leapmotor and others)
• EU COC vs parallel import
• registration routes when they actually make sense
• kits and options arriving with the car

Tell me the model and where you want to register it. I’ll tell you the real landed cost — or tell you not to buy.

Stock, order, or a second opinion — DM.
WhatsApp / Viber: [phone]

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@TangjieW40699 @youlingnash 我会被打死的，不从政人民都对你倍儿友好，从政大街上游行骂你同性恋

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@youlingnash @TangjieW40699 给大哥磕头了，不指望赚那么多，够花每年能有空趟俩月就烧高香了

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@youlingnash 感谢大哥推荐 么么哒

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@Mileiverine Thanks for sharing! That’s really interesting. I’ll definitely keep these brands in mind. Hopefully we’ll find some good opportunities in Argentina! 🤝

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@LOOKatMyMX5 @autocar Yes so？

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@youlingnash 没事，第二天就又买回来了一套，没办法

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@0xEthan666 那太狠了

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

Chinese automakers can’t profit without subsidies?

It’s 2026! Even German-built cars can be cheaper in China! 😂

After 10,000+ words of replies today, I wrote an article for everyone.

Disagree? Let’s talk. Just spare me the brainless tantrums. 😂 https://t.co/JLBH424jBK

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

And beyond the automaker itself, look at NIO Power, Mirattery, battery assets, financing structures and the wider ecosystem. There are valuable businesses and assets attracting serious outside investment, even when the automaker’s consolidated financial results don’t tell a particularly attractive story.

Of course, investment interest and asset value aren’t the same thing as proven operating profits. But they do show why looking at one headline profit figure doesn’t tell you everything about the business.

I’ve worked in the automotive industry for 17 years, sourcing cars internationally and selling them into different markets. I’ve also worked in automotive media, so I follow the actual condition and capabilities of the major Chinese manufacturers very closely.

And believe me, the differences between them are enormous. Even much of the Chinese automotive media is guessing about what really happens behind the scenes. 😂

Some are dying.

Some are surviving.

And some have become frighteningly good businesses.

As for the claim that China’s domestic market is down 30%, I’d genuinely like to know which specific period and sales category you’re referring to.

China has also changed the rules governing so-called zero-mileage used-car exports. Since January 2026, exporting vehicles registered for less than 180 days requires additional manufacturer documentation.

That affects certain export channels, although it doesn’t by itself explain changes in domestic retail demand. We need to distinguish domestic sales, registrations, wholesale deliveries and exports rather than treating every number as interchangeable.

The reality is that some manufacturers export because overseas margins are attractive. Others export because they desperately need additional volume. Some have both motivations.

But they’re certainly not exporting cars to Europe for charity. 😂

I expect another major reshuffling of the Chinese automotive industry over the next 3–5 years. Quite a few brands that exist today may not survive.

So yes, government support is part of the picture. But reducing China’s automotive competitiveness to subsidies alone ignores the supply chain, economies of scale, cross-brand engineering, brutal domestic competition and, perhaps most importantly, how manufacturers price their products in different markets.

That’s why I keep comparing car prices between China and Europe.

Sometimes the biggest surprise isn’t how cheap Chinese cars are.

It’s how cheaply European manufacturers are willing to sell their own cars in China. 😂

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

Jason here again. 😂 That’s actually a very good question, and I agree with you that indirect government support exists. I’m certainly not denying that.

China still has R&D tax incentives, local industrial policies, infrastructure investment and other forms of support. But the old national purchase subsidies for new energy vehicles ended in 2022.

Today, much of the nationwide support is directed at consumers, including trade-in incentives and purchase-tax reductions. And those trade-in incentives aren’t exclusive to EVs. Eligible petrol cars receive subsidies too.

But let me ask you something interesting.

If government subsidies explain why Chinese cars are so cheap, why are some German-built cars actually cheaper in China than in Germany? 😂

Take the Porsche Macan Electric. Its Chinese starting price has been listed at RMB 598,000, roughly €72,000, compared with €82,200 in Germany.

And that’s a car built in Germany and imported into China, where imported EVs face import duties and VAT. Under the standard 15% duty and 13% VAT calculation, the combined import-stage tax burden is 29.95%.

The Mercedes EQS and BMW i7 are also interesting examples. Look at the actual dealer discounts in China rather than just the official list prices. European luxury manufacturers can be extraordinarily aggressive with pricing in the Chinese market.

So what’s the explanation? Is the Chinese government secretly subsidizing Porsche, Mercedes and BMW to sell German-built cars more cheaply to Chinese customers? 😂

Of course not. It’s market competition, demand, pricing strategy and the margins manufacturers are willing to accept.

And that’s only part of the story.

China has an enormous and highly competitive automotive supply chain. Batteries, electric motors, electronics, screens, castings and countless other components can be sourced domestically, often from multiple suppliers competing fiercely for the same orders.

Manufacturers can spread development costs across huge production volumes, share platforms and components, and bring new models to market very quickly.

Geely is probably one of the clearest examples of how this works.

Look at the wider Geely ecosystem: Geely, Lynk & Co, ZEEKR, Volvo, Lotus, Polestar and smart.

Different brands, different price segments, different customers — but substantial opportunities to share engineering, vehicle architectures, technology, component development and purchasing power.

Take the CMA and SEA architecture families. Technologies developed for one brand can be adapted and used across several others. Lotus’s electric vehicle architecture also has roots in Geely’s SEA family.

Not every brand uses identical components or platforms, of course. But instead of every company independently spending billions developing everything from scratch, significant parts of those engineering and development costs can be spread across multiple brands and enormous production volumes.

That’s not some mysterious government subsidy. That’s industrial scale, engineering integration and very smart cost management. 😂

And then there’s the price war.

Chinese customers have an unbelievable number of choices. If one manufacturer offers comparable equipment for €2,000 less, everyone else has to react. Sometimes manufacturers sacrifice margins just to remain competitive.

The competition is absolutely brutal.

Some Chinese automakers are already in such poor condition that subsidies would barely make a difference anymore. For them, bankruptcy, acquisition or consolidation may simply be a matter of time.

But the manufacturers that have survived this competition, continued growing and broken away from the pack? Many of them have built genuinely profitable and extremely strong businesses.

NIO is a particularly interesting example. Its automotive operations have struggled with profitability, but the company reported its first quarterly net profit in Q4 2025.

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

Sorry for the slightly slow reply — I’m a bit busy dealing with payment for a customer’s order right now. 😂

I also didn’t want to reply too confidently from memory and accidentally give you the wrong information, so I checked the exact dates and figures again before answering.

If there’s anything about the Chinese car industry you’d like to discuss or understand better, I’m genuinely always happy to talk about it.

And trust me, I’m definitely not one of those people who blindly praises Chinese cars. 😂 I source cars from all over the world and sell them into different markets, so for me a good car is a good car, regardless of where it comes from.

But because I’ve also worked in automotive media for many years, I do have a pretty good understanding of what’s actually going on behind the scenes with the major Chinese brands — which companies are genuinely strong, which ones are struggling, and which ones look much better from the outside than they really are. 😂

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

Jason here. 😂 I think we’re mixing several different things together, and I actually agree with you on some of them.

First, yes — local taxes and regulations matter enormously. I deal with exactly this every day. The same car can make perfect sense in one European country and absolutely no sense in another.

But when it comes to Chinese manufacturers themselves, let me be more direct, because this is an industry I know very well from the inside.

Some Chinese automakers are basically finished. At this point, even subsidies would barely make a meaningful difference to them. Bankruptcy, acquisition or consolidation is probably just a matter of time.

But the companies that are actually surviving this brutal competition, continuing to grow and breaking away from the pack? Many of them are making serious money.

And there’s another misconception here: China’s old national subsidy system that directly subsidized the purchase of NEVs ended at the end of 2022.

Of course China still supports its auto industry. But in 2026, much of the nationwide support you can actually point to is on the consumer side.

Buy an eligible NEV through the scrappage program and the consumer can receive 12% of the new-car price, capped at RMB 20,000. But buy an eligible ≤2.0L ICE car and you can also receive 10%, capped at RMB 15,000.

NEVs also still receive a purchase-tax benefit, but even that has already been reduced: in 2026–27 it is a 50% reduction, capped at RMB 15,000 per passenger car.

So the old picture of “the Chinese government gives BYD/NIO/Geely a cheque for every EV they produce, therefore the cars are cheap” is years out of date.

Yes, there are still R&D incentives, local industrial policies and other forms of support. I’m not denying that at all. But those are very different from saying Chinese cars are cheap simply because the government pays for every car.

And you also can’t understand these companies simply by looking at one consolidated profit number from the listed automaker.

NIO is an interesting example. Its core automotive business struggled for years to show consistent profitability, but NIO already reported its first quarterly net profit in Q4 2025: RMB 282.7 million.

Then look beyond the car company itself — NIO Power, Mirattery, battery assets, financing structures and the ecosystem around it. There are valuable businesses and assets behind these manufacturers that ordinary consumers simply never see.

And to be honest, on many of these things, even 90% of Chinese automotive media are guessing. 😂

I’ve spent 17 years in this industry, and I follow the capabilities and real condition of the major Chinese manufacturers very closely. The differences between them are enormous.

Some are dying.

Some are surviving.

And some have become frighteningly good businesses.

That’s why I think the “subsidies” explanation is massively oversimplified.

Some companies export because they can make much better margins abroad. Some export because they desperately need more volume. Some need both.

They’re certainly not exporting cars to Europe for charity. 😂

China’s auto industry is going through a massive elimination round right now. Give it another 3–5 years and the picture will be much clearer. A lot of the brands people are discussing today probably won’t even exist anymore.

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

As a Chinese person who has worked in the auto industry for 17 years, I think you guys have reached the most interesting part of the discussion. 😂

China’s problem isn’t that nobody wants to buy cars anymore. We simply have too many manufacturers, too much production capacity, and absolutely brutal price competition.

And about that 30% decline — be careful with the statistics. China previously allowed brand-new, unregistered cars to be exported through the so-called “zero-mileage used car” channel without waiting 180 days. The rules have changed, so some of the apparent decline is also about how exports are classified and counted.

Most of the genuinely competitive Chinese brands are still steadily growing. At the same time, weaker brands that are close to elimination are fighting desperately to survive.

Some companies export because they see huge opportunities abroad. Others export because surviving only in China is becoming increasingly difficult.

Give it another 3–5 years. I think we’ll see another major reshuffling of the Chinese auto industry. A lot of the names you see today probably won’t be around anymore. 😂

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

Hey Elon, your wealth is probably a little too dazzling to some people in India. 😂

Plenty of multinational companies have entered India only to find themselves facing all kinds of investigations, penalties and enormous fines.

But your global influence makes it much harder for anyone to play the same game with you.

So if they can’t harvest you after you enter, maybe the easier option is simply to keep you from entering in the first place. 😂

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@rb_488 @SEAMAC_VALET @Jaguar Hahahhahahahah

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@Akaza_tse @jishan1340789 那咱俩应该一个时区

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@jishan1340789 我今天应该能破200嘿嘿
Ps:不承诺一定互关，怕号歪，理解万岁

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@lidangzzz 嗯，我确实不会买宝马5系😂

[Jason Džu | Auto Sourcing @MasterAutoBalka]

@LucasAbriata @nicovaccab Wow! I just checked out their profile and some videos of their showroom. That’s impressive! 😂

Looks like this niche market is already quite well developed in Argentina. I definitely need to come and see it for myself sometime! 🇦🇷