Sometimes it’s easy to feel like the algorithms that control what ads are presented to us are maybe a little too good. I say this because recently I’ve been getting a lot of Alibaba ads for a particular EV – the Ora Ballet Cat, which is a shameless and bold update of the original VW Beetle – for a shockingly low price of $755. This hits three of my most deep-seated fetishes: classic VW Beetles. shameless knockoffs, and unsettlingly cheap Chinese electric cars. I had to look into what was going on here, because this all seems far, far too good to be true. And, I hope this isn’t too much of a spoiler, but it seems it is too good to be true! It’s all kinda horseshit!
I suppose I really shouldn’t be all that shocked that something advertised on Alibaba isn’t absolutely rock-solid, bet-your-grandma’s-life-on-it-true, but this still feels a lot more blatantly bait-and-switchy than I’m used to. I feel like when I see an absurdly low price for a car on Alibaba I’m inclined to at least check, because, remember, my Changli was only about $930. Of course, that was before an extra $300 or so for lead-acid batteries and it’s also worth reminding everyone that the Changli is a 1.1 horsepower little jokebox and this Ora is, by all specs and reports, an actual, real car.
So, what the hell is going on here? Look at these ads that I’ve been fed, just in the past few days:
This one has come up a lot, and you can see what it’s so eye-catching: four cars, one that’s a tiny Chinese EV for $8,000 and then three Beetle-like Ora Ballet Cats for $755! If that isn’t catching your attention in some way, I think you may want to check your pulse. Remember, the Ora Ballet Cat isn’t like that little $8,000 tiny-ass shitbox there – it’s a much more substantial and luxurious car! I mean, look at this lady; do you think she’s going to be caught dead in something cheap?
Of course not. Or what about this fancy woman:
Look at her! There’s so much classy dripping off this picture it’s probably increasing the resale value of your phone every minute you keep it on screen!
So how the hell are they selling these for $755? I looked for other Ora Ballet Cats for sale and saw a few that were priced much more in line with reality, at about $18,000 to $20,000 or so:
I clicked through one of the $755 ads to try and see if the truth would be revealed, and found that the $755 price was a story they seemed to be sticking with:
Look, I can even pick a color! Of course, it’s saying “shipping solutions for the selected quantity are currently unavailable” though even if I increased the number to 10 or 20 Ora Ballet Cats, it still said that.
I can get pretty far here with it never suggesting it’s anything other than $755, which, again has to be bullshit. So, I started an order request with two of these ads, which puts me in chat-contact with a representative, so I could finally get some answers. Here’s the first one, my exchange with Yu Doris of the Zhongqi International Trade concern:
So, as you can see, it’s not $755, it’s $7,255 which is still like 1/3 of what the car normally sells for but is also ten times the price they’re advertising. And when I noted it’s not the price in the ad, I was just met with a simple “no.” Okay, Doris, fine. Happily, I don’t have to order 144 of them, which is how many pieces in a gross, just one piece. But do I believe that one Ora Ballet Cat is only $7,255? No, I don’t. I mean, they already lied about the price, why should they stop now?
Next, I spoke with Kieth Yang, of Ghangzhou Zhongda Automobile Traders, who had a very different actual price:
Keith, you lying sack of crap! $22,000 is nothing like $755! It’s likely the most fair and honest price I’ve actually had quoted for the Ora Ballet Cat, but I’m still cheesed over about this $755 business!
Now, I never really expected that the Ballet Cat would be $755. Of course not. But I’m still not happy that it’s somehow just fine to make up a completely absurd, fabricated price and just have that be okay somehow, and then the actual price doesn’t get told to you until you actually start the ordering process. Does this actually work for any of these companies? Wouldn’t the people who genuinely think they can get these cars for $755 be pissed to learn that’s not the case, and once they know, they’re not even likely to be shopping in a price range so much higher than what they initially expected, right?
Anyway, this is all stupid, and perhaps is a good reminder to take what you see on Alibaba and other similar sites with a big salty grain of salt. Yes, there are absurdly cheap EVs to be had from these sites – I know because I have one – but it’s not exactly a real car in the sense of what this Great Wall-subsidiary Ora Ballet Cat is, and that’s because, even on Alibaba, you get what you pay for.
“So, as you can see, it’s not $755, it’s $7,255 which is still like 1/3 of what the car normally sells for but is also ten times the price they’re advertising”
Unfortunately a lot of jackass sellers do that. It’s very common on Facebook Marketplace where a lot of dealers will list a “price” that is actually just the monthly payment… with no mention of how many months.
It’s even worse when they advertise cars that don’t actually exist and it’s just a ploy to get you on their lot.
“Yep, I’m looking at it right now, and I’ll hold it for you to drive over.”
—————–
“Oh, I didn’t realize that had just sold, but I’ve got something else you’ll really like. Just 84 payments of $100 more than the other car was listed for and it’s yours!”
And, yes, you can have up to 6 co-signers!
There is at least some logic there with the monthly payment. This $755 business isn’t even based on anything.
Sigh… I love this, I want one, and I’m not proud of it.
This is why China is no threat. They can’t even keep things straight.
Stop worrying about these Vinfast-level hack jobs. They’re not going to bankrupt GM and Ford.
Pull a Pepsi Wheres My Jet and sue them to deliver at the advertised price. Would be a fun article at the end of it.
Maybe she spends all her money on fashion and can’t afford a nice car. Much like some people spend all their money on cars and can’t afford nice clothes.
Regardless of price, I have to think that this would not be register-able in the U.S., so it’s curious that they even market ads here.
Good point. That’s the bigger issue here. They’d gladly take your $20k+ and it’s your problem once it gets here.
AliExpress is notorious for using a picture of what you really want, E.G. fancy headphones, and a ridiculous price, E.G. $1.49. When you click through, you’ll see multiple variations of the product, and there is a $1.49 item, but it’ll be like a 6-inch audio cable, and the headphones are $699.
I wonder what the $755 item is!
Wow! Ora took the gothic shape of the 1968 Beetle taillights, and made it in to the shape of “their” headlights. If that’s not brillant VW off ripping, I really don’t know what is! 😀
And isn’t a four door Beetle what we’ve always wanted?
Please get your rich friend Beau to buy one and place it on the Galpin parking lot next to the rotting red Jeep project, just to see how long that China “chrome” is going to last. And drive it a bit around now and then for Autopian content. Win-win situation 😉
I was fully expecting $755 to be the actual price, but the car to be some model RC version of the real thing. See how the ads all have the word “Mini” in the text?
Huh, Chinese scam is a scam. Who woulda thought?
Ora is one of the worst-sounding name ever. Some of Ora vehicles have been sold in Germany. On the hatchback that is thinly coated with dirt, somebody added a few extra letters to the brand name: O R A L SEX.
Looks like they are selling ballet tickets on Tickemaster now.
This thing is perfect! I want a Beetle, but don’t want to pay outrageous prices for an old car that requires old car labour (which I’m actually OK with, but can’t afford the time).
I wish VW would offer something like this but I understand why they won’t, doesn’t make sense for them, at least not on how modern cars are built.
I hope coach building to come back as soon as technology allows a modular chassis to be purchased from manufacturers, with all safety equipment, and then we can dress it up as whatever car we want.
Of course, don’t dress up as a 300SL or as a Ferrari 250GTO if you don’t want Mercedes or Ferrari to sue you and crush your car – they don’t want us unwashed masses sullying their precious brand…
Ora Ballet Cat. I feel like that could have been the end of a game of telephone beginning with “Old Beetle Car”, much like the design itself.
I believe the $8000 Changan BenBen EV is actually legit, since the asking price here in China is just over $9000 USD. They could be clearing out old stock, since these cars are based on ICE chassis all the way back from 2014 and are no longer competitive.
Was looking at a CPO BenBen a few months back, the price was good ($4500 for 190miles of range) but safety was just a joke; hard to believe that a 2021 car had fast charging and a FHD touchscreen nav but no airbags or ESC!
It’s the automotive equivalent (although not as egregious) of the $1 real estate listing:
https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/25998040/5431-appleby-line-burlington-rural-burlington
Maybe closer to the “we’re asking $799k, but won’t entertain offers of less than $1.2 million?” Or my frustration with looking at cheap cars for entertainment, using the monthly payment as price.
Ah, fake and superficial, just like most of Burlington.
Too bad VW never made a 4-door Beetle. If they did, they’d still be making them and never stop making them.
VW only stopped making the old Beetle because Mexico required taxis to have 4 doors.
That’s true, but emissions would have eventually caught up anyway, they had stop building air cooled Type 2s in 2006 because of that (but that one had already been made available in a water cooled version, the Beetle was never treated to such re-engineering). I think Mexico largely adopted Euro IV around the same time, so production could have only gone maybe another 3 years, at most.
I didn’t know that! I thought they would’ve made water-cooled Beetles and that the later Mexican Beetles were water-cooled.
oops
The Chinese VW New Beetle/PT Cruiser electric inbred car. Why do I secretly want one?
Part of liking cars is that you will, without fail, one day like a terrible car and that’s okay.
It’s the headlamps.
They went so far with that shameless design, only to give it weird Disney cartoon animal headlights. I don’t know if I like them or hate them, but I definitely feel some way about them.
The Ballet Cat is based on a 2021 concept called the Punk Cat which, honestly? I don’t hate. It’s got rounder headlights more reminiscent of those on the original Beetle.
Great Wall/Ora also put out a car called the Lightning Cat that is clearly a very watered-down Panamera knockoff. The first car under the marque, called the… [plaintive sigh]… Good Cat, was designed by a former Porsche guy, so I guess? maybe? there’s some DNA in their designs rather than just straight ripoffs? Or not, that isn’t really an excuse.
God, I love those names. They’re terrible. But I love them.
They had one other car that didn’t fit the naming scheme but was still wild: Mecha Dragon
Good Cat was sold as Funky Cat in Europe but now goes by some distinctly unfunky alphanumeric.
Watching Men in Black, again. Am now certain the Chinese are aliens from a turd filled galaxy. YMMV.
It never ceases to amaze me how Chinese have no concept of honest marketing. You should watch the “Torque Test Channel” on YouTube and their reviews of 1 million lumen flashlights and 1000 decibel horns. I found extremely amusing that such high decibels would equal planet destroying shockwaves.
“Honest marketing” is a concept that died out decades ago; airlines clamouring to keep hidden fees hidden, candy manufacturers working around the rules to claim something made purely from sugar is “sugar-free” … the list is endless. The only differences are whether the con-jobs are clear and blatant, or subtle enough to fool some people
Ice cream companies peddling “frozen dairy dessert”
We’ve just had a new one here (CPH): Kwik-e-marts selling marihuana joints as incence sticks! Oh, the creativity 😉
$755 plus 20k for shipping 😛
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005128343939.html
Not quite as bad as your example, but can you imagine paying $17K+ for this glorified electric shopping cart?
Having driven plenty of actual electrified shopping carts, I’d daily it.
“Or what about this fancy woman”
She looks like she’d much rather be crying in a BMW.
Is it possible that the company claiming $755 as the price, with its website’s interactions with prospective customers trying to place orders, is actually entirely AI-generated? Are we actually witnessing the birth of Skynet? Instead of launching nuclear attacks in 1997 and Terminators in 2029 Skynet is launching fraudlent car dealerships in 2024? Ha, time to break out the tinfoil hats…
Good luck. When they first launched Ali Express, I placed an order for some neodymium magnets to see if it was too good to be true. It was; the order never arrived, and when I complained, I was told, “Too bad. You didn’t pay for guaranteed shipping.” That was the beginning and end of my business with them. My guess is that those magnets are stuck to the inside of an abandoned shipping container somewhere.
Flip side, they used to take people’s word for not having received an item and refund the money. I had some that I genuinely did not receive and always got my money back, but I knew people who got their orders and always reported that they never received the item and got them for free. Got so bad in Canada that Aliexpress now has either a warehouse or depot in Canada where they ship to from China, and then slap a Canada Post label on it and ship with a tracking number. Nobody can scam them for item not received now.
nasty little buggers, aren’t we? and a Can Post label means less than the paper it’s printed on these days
Fwiw I’ve never had any issues with regular shipping over the past 5-ish years of ordering off Aliexpress. Always delivered and always the correct item.