PEOPLE WANT TO BUY THEM IN LARGE NUMBERS? Influential Porsche designer says Chinese electric car manufacturers have one crucial advantage.

Though China does possess an advantage in key components like raw materials, processing and battery manufacturing, a key Porsche figurehead noticed something very different that Chinese manufacturers have, that other, more established companies like Porsche do not.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Porsche chief designer Michael Mauer said that Chinese car companies have an advantage because the strict guidelines that more-established brands use to protect their “heritage” limit the creativity of their designers, but also help to inspire new ideas.

“These startups, with no heritage, they can do things completely different,” Mauer told Bloomberg. “I consider it a positive thing actually, as a designer, because that makes the decision-makers — I.E., the management board — more open-minded.”

It’s going to take a lot more than looks to broaden the EV market beyond early adopters, enthusiasts, and the pretty limited market where EV makes more economic sense than ICE.