Latest news with #CocoFeng
South China Morning Post
01-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Robotic hair washer to enter Hong Kong market in June after gaining interest on mainland
A hair-washing robot, which has attracted widespread attention in southern China, will enter the Hong Kong market in June, according to its maker. Advertisement Faxiaoka AI Hair Care, which runs roughly 40 stores in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Hunan, offers innovative hair-washing services that can also examine hair quality and skin health. The machine consists of a massage table with electronic massagers and a helmet-shaped module at one end for washing hair. Inside the module are high-pressure water tubes that can wash hair from all directions. There is also a therapy system inside the helmet, which uses low-level wavelengths of red light to help treat skin conditions. The basic package, which costs less than 20 yuan (US$2.70), lasted about 16 minutes, according to a Post reporter's experience in mid-April in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province. However, the machine is not able to dry hair. Customers must sit on a separate chair to dry their hair themselves or have a shop assistant do it. It was not fully automatic either, as it required the assistant to start the machine and adjust the temperature and strength based on the customer's requests. The Faxiaoka AI Hair Care system automates hair-washing. Photo: Coco Feng The team is working on a second-generation system that would add a drying function. It would also allow users to start the machine by scanning a QR code with a smartphone. The new system would be ready in June, said He Qiufeng, founder and chairwoman of Guangdong Sheng Tai Health Technology Group, which owns the Faxiaoka brand.
South China Morning Post
17-04-2025
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
BYD's US$18,300 electric SUV has autopilot-like system, and a DJI drone in premium model
China's BYD , the world's largest electric vehicle maker, has launched its new Titanium 3 SUV at a starting price of 133,800 yuan (US$18,320), intensifying its push to dominate the market through aggressive pricing and new technologies. Advertisement The new model, with five variants, is the first in BYD's new Titanium series under its premium Fang Cheng Bao brand, which literally means 'formula leopard'. The Titanium series is meant to appeal to younger consumers with more sporty, stylish designs and technologies such as its new advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). It includes a customisable facade, and the most expensive model, priced at 193,800 yuan, includes a DJI Air 3 drone mounted on the roof. As its namesake chemical element suggests, the Titanium 3 is being sold as a tough vehicle capable of handling a wide variety of terrains. It can detect snow and mud, and assist drivers in getting the vehicle unstuck from sand. The embedded ADAS, dubbed 'God's Eye', can also navigate highways and self-park. In February, BYD said the system would eventually be introduced to nearly all of its vehicles – including the Seagull hatchback, which starts at 69,800 yuan. Visitors at the Titanium 3 launch event look check out the new SUV. Photo: Coco Feng The launch comes as BYD capitalises on Tesla's struggles in China , where the US EV maker has halted orders for its US-made Model S and Model X amid an escalating trade war between Beijing and Washington. Tesla sales in the country were once seen as a bellwether for the domestic EV market, with the company establishing a plant in Shanghai in 2019. Advertisement
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Chinese EV maker Xpeng to double global presence to 60 markets in 2025, CEO says
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng plans to expand to 60 international markets this year, doubling its current footprint in around 30 countries and regions, company chairman and chief executive He Xiaopeng said on Saturday. He made the remarks at a port in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, where Xpeng launched global shipments of its flagship seven-seat multipurpose vehicle (MPV), the X9. A total of 300 right-hand drive versions of the X9 would be transported to Thailand, with deliveries to the owners starting immediately upon arrival. He expects that by 2023 half of Xpeng's sales volume will be generated from outside China. The firm generated 13 per cent of its 2024 sales volume from overseas, Xpeng vice-chairman and president Brian Gu said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Xpeng kicked off global shipments of the X9 in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Saturday. Photo: Handout alt=Xpeng kicked off global shipments of the X9 in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Saturday. Photo: Handout> Xpeng also intends to expand its charging network, with plans to set up ultra-fast charging stations in Thailand and Hong Kong in the first half of the year, He said on Saturday. In addition, the company would start testing its autonom ous driving system in international markets this year, and introduce self-driving cars to users in the global market starting from 2026, he said. The expansion in Thailand, where only one Xpeng model, the G6, is currently available, is part of its "go-global 2.0 strategy", under which the company plans to enter markets in Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Thailand is one of the most open markets when it comes to electric cars, aiming to produce 30 per cent of its total auto output as "zero-emission vehicles" by 2030. A local policy grants a buyer subsidy of up to 100,000 baht (US$2,976) per EV purchase from local manufacturers from 2024 to 2027. Chinese cars are challenging the dominance of Japanese brands in Thailand. In 2024, the market share of Japanese passenger cars shrank to 64.8 per cent from the previous year's 67 per cent, while the share of Chinese carmakers was 18.8 per cent, up from 17.1 per cent, according to nationwide data released by Toyota Motor's Thai subsidiary. He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng, speaks at the launch event in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Saturday. Photo: Coco Feng alt=He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng, speaks at the launch event in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Saturday. Photo: Coco Feng> Unlike its Chinese peers BYD and Great Wall Motor that have opened factories in Thailand, Xpeng does not have immediate plans for local production. He said on Saturday that the firm can only "answer the question [about Thai plants]" when "it grows bigger". "We expect to have [production] plans in more places around the world in the future," he added. Xpeng's exports to Thailand still enjoy zero tariffs under a 2018 free trade agreement with China. In contrast, other international markets have become more problematic. For example, the United States quadrupled tariffs on Chinese EVs to 100 per cent last September, while European Union member states in October approved new tariffs on Chinese EVs of up to 35 per cent, in addition to the existing 10 per cent. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
South China Morning Post
05-02-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's online sellers mull price hikes to offset US tariffs
Coco Feng in Guangdong , Iris Deng in Shenzhen and Wency Chen in Shanghai Published: 9:08pm, 5 Feb 2025 Chinese merchants selling to US customers online are looking to raise prices to offset the new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and rising shipping costs after the United States Postal Service (USPS) stopped receiving parcels from mainland China and Hong Kong this week. A merchant surnamed Gu, who sells on and PDD Holdings-owned Temu , said she received a message from her cargo service provider on Monday that it would charge extra for parcels destined for the US from Tuesday noon. She was asked to pay 35 per cent more for textile shipments and 25 per cent more for other merchandise to cover tariffs and customs clearance. Gu said she was discussing with her business partners whether to raise the prices of their products. The removal of the de minimis exemption is expected to affect Chinese – backed cross-border e-commerce firms like Shein and Temu. Photo: AFP The de minimis policy, which allowed small packages worth less than US$800 to enter the US duty-free, played a major role in driving the growth of China's cross-border e-commerce industry. Nearly half of all packages shipped under de minimis came from China, the US congressional committee on China said in a report in June 2023.
