Chinese-Made Cars Are Already Here. We've Even Tested a Few.

On a recent trip to Europe, I noticed something interesting about the car ads: Many of them were for Chinese brands like BYD, DFSK, MG, Lynk & Co., Jaecoo, and Omoda. When I called a taxi, the driver pulled up in a BYD Seal, an electric vehicle with a 300-plus mile range, Tesla-like looks, and a price of around $47,000. I peppered the driver with questions: How does it drive? Why did he choose it instead of another brand? How long does it take to charge? He was happy to tell me about his experiences, and he was shocked to learn we couldn’t purchase one in the U.S.

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Like me, most Americans have encountered cars from Chinese brands only on TikTok or while on vacation in another country. Although no Chinese companies currently sell vehicles in the U.S., you might be surprised to learn that some American and European brands have been selling Chinese-built vehicles for nearly a decade.

Trade policy aside, when China began exporting vehicles to Europe in the early s, Chinese automakers made headlines for disastrous crash tests. Those results might make buyers wary, but enough has changed since then to make Chinese vehicles a potentially reasonable proposition for buyers in the U.S.

Chinese-made EVs like the BYD Atto 3 (below), MG4, and XPeng G9 are selling globally, thanks to cutting-edge technology and low prices. Especially in Europe, electric vehicles from Chinese brands are selling in larger and larger numbers.

BYD, a Shenzhen-based automaker, is building a factory in Mexico, where its stylish Dolphin electric hatchback with a range of about 250 miles sells for the equivalent of $23,600. The small BYD Seagull EV sells for about $11,000 in China and is becoming popular in other markets as well.

Regardless of brand, where a car is made is rarely a shortcut for assessing its quality. “When it comes to performance and reliability, where a car is built really matters less than how it’s designed and manufactured,” says Jake Fisher, senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center. “Our reliability data has shown this to be true for years.”

For example, our testing and reliability data show that the Chinese-built Buick Envision is one of the better small SUVs in its class. The Polestar 2 electric vehicle was also made in China but sat at the bottom of our ratings. Similarly, many Honda and Toyota models built in the U.S. have excellent reliability, while some U.S.-built Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen models have below-average reliability. 

“Some automakers are simply better at setting up new plants and incorporating production methods that eliminate potential problems,” Fisher says. He adds that Toyota is well-known for processes that prevent mistakes on the assembly line, while other brands leave more up to the skills and experience of the workers. 

At this point, CR hasn’t observed a difference between the Chinese-made vehicles already sold in the U.S. and vehicles from the same brands manufactured in Europe, Japan, or North America, says Alex Knizek, associate director for auto test development at CR.

“From a build-quality perspective, I’ve never noticed anything abnormal or different based on where a vehicle is assembled,” he says. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you without looking it up or checking the sticker.”

If cars from Chinese brands are ever sold here, they would have to meet U.S. safety standards, just as Chinese cars sold in Europe must meet stringent European crash test standards. Knizek says it’s likely that automakers would adapt their vehicles to fit the preferences of American consumers as well. 

While a car’s provenance doesn’t predict its quality, CR experts say there’s often a correlation between an automaker’s experience and the reliability of the cars it produces. We’ve found that newer manufacturers—including Fisker, Lucid, Rivian, and Tesla—tend to struggle with building reliable cars. “Our data has shown time and time again that car manufacturers that are new to building cars have had many problems,” Fisher says. “Some Chinese automakers have long histories working with established brands such as Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota, and GM. That may give them an advantage. But a new brand building in a new plant is not likely to be a recipe for success.”

“Current import restrictions mean that if we do see Chinese brands, they may be built in Mexico to help avoid tariffs,” Fisher says. “But only time will tell if the Chinese production methods will translate well in those new plants.”

You can also look at the first two characters of the 17-character vehicle identification number (VIN), found where the windshield meets the dash in front of the driver. It’s also printed on the car’s title document and registration. Most dealer websites and online car marketplaces list a VIN as well. The first two characters of the VIN are called a World Manufacturer Identifier and show where final assembly took place.

These are World Manufacturer Identifiers for countries where U.S.-bound vehicles are commonly exported from:

1, 4, 5, 7F through 7Z, and 70: U.S.

2: Canada

3: Mexico

9A through 9E and 93 through 99: Brazil

AA through AH: South Africa

J: Japan

KL through KR: South Korea

L: China

MA through ME and MY through M0: India

ML through MR: Thailand

SA through SM: United Kingdom

TJ through TP: Czech Republic

TR through TV: Hungary

U5 through U7: Slovakia

VA through VE: Austria

VF through VR: France

VS through VW: Spain

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W: Germany

YA through YE: Belgium

YS through YW: Sweden

YF through YK: Finland

XL through XR: The Netherlands

ZA through ZU: Italy

Just two decades ago, China had little capacity to make cars, and owning one was considered novel. Today, China produces and exports more cars than any other country in the world.

President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised to impose new tariffs on China. Many countries, including the United States, already levy extra tariffs on China’s electric vehicles. But with all of the advantages China wields in automaking, this pushback is unlikely to undercut China’s dominance.

China’s home market for car sales is the world’s largest — almost as big as the American and European markets combined.

As China’s domestic market grew, so did its production capacity, propelled by massive government investment and world-beating advances in automation. Yet in recent years, the pace of sales has fallen behind as consumer spending slows in China’s economic downturn. The result is that China today has the capacity to make nearly twice as many cars as its consumers need.

To deal with the excess, China has increasingly looked overseas to sell cars.

China is a leader in the transition to electric vehicles and it exports more of them than any other country. Chinese brands like BYD are becoming known worldwide for offering advanced electric cars at the most competitive prices. And as Chinese drivers have shifted rapidly to electric vehicles, demand for gasoline-powered cars in China has plunged and many are being exported instead.

But China’s trading partners say that China’s exports of both electric and gasoline-powered cars imperil millions of jobs and threaten major companies. Earlier this year, the United States and the European Union put significant new tariffs on electric cars from China. Governments are concerned because the auto industry plays a big role in national security, producing tanks, armored personnel carriers, freight trucks and other vehicles.

What’s more, China has used steep tariffs and other taxes as a barrier to car imports, so that practically all of the cars sold in China are made in China.

Here’s how China took the lead in the global car market.

Decades of investment in electric cars pays off

Last year, China sold 1.7 million electric cars abroad, nearly 50 percent more than the next largest exporter, Germany. Since , shipments have skyrocketed.

The top destination is Europe, where consumers prefer small, compact models like those sold in China.

Southeast Asia is another big market, where buyers increasingly prefer Chinese cars for their cheaper prices.

China also exports a small but fast-growing number of plug-in hybrid cars. Hybrids are particularly popular among buyers who may not have access to extensive charging networks but still want electric cars for short trips.

China has invested heavily for more than 15 years in developing electric cars, to limit its dependence on imported oil. Wen Jiabao, China’s premier from to , made electric cars one of his highest priorities. In , he reached outside the Communist Party to choose Wan Gang, a Shanghai-born former Audi engineer in Germany, as the country’s minister of science and technology. Mr. Wen gave him essentially a blank check to make China the world’s leader in electric cars.

Now, half of China’s car buyers choose battery electric or plug-in hybrid cars. Until recently, buyers of electric cars also received large subsidies from the government. Carmakers have received low-interest-rate loans from state-controlled banks to build dozens of factories, as well as government tax breaks and cheap land and electricity. By one estimate, Beijing’s assistance to China’s electric car and battery sectors has been worth more than $230 billion since — one reason that the European Union has imposed anti-subsidy tariffs.

China is projected to continue its heavy investment and retain its lead in electric vehicles.

Because of the shift to electric cars in China, carmakers have been left to slash prices on unwanted gasoline cars and unload them overseas. Last year, most of the cars China sold abroad were traditional gasoline engine cars.

Russia was the leading destination last year. Sales surged after the Ukraine invasion, partly because of the departure of Western brands from the Russian market.

China’s gasoline cars were also favored by middle- and lower-income countries in Latin America and the Middle East for being cost-effective.

China has more than 100 factories with a combined capacity to build close to 40 million internal combustion engine cars a year. That is more than twice as many as people in China want to buy, and sales of these cars are dropping fast as electric vehicles become more popular.

As a result, some assembly plants have been mothballed or shuttered. But automakers, reluctant to close facilities, are selling many gasoline-burning cars overseas at steep discounts.

Will tariffs be able to slow China down?

The flood of Chinese cars into the global market has raised alarms around the world. In addition to the European Union, governments elsewhere have levied extra tariffs on electric cars from China, on top of baseline taxes already applied to all imported vehicles.

The countries’ tariffs come in different forms. The U.S. government levied a flat tax. The European Union calculated a rate for each automaker based on the estimated subsidies the company has received from Chinese government agencies and state-controlled banks. India and Brazil are also aiming to protect their local industries.

But tariffs may not fully offset Chinese carmakers’ competitive lead. Chinese companies offer cars with similar quality to their global rivals and at lower cost. Analysts at the bank UBS calculate that cars made by BYD cost 30 percent less to assemble than similar cars made by Western companies. Some of the biggest savings for Chinese companies are on batteries. China controls practically the entire supply chain for making electric car batteries.

With the advantages China wields in automaking, even the world’s intensifying pushback is unlikely to stop the country from dominating the industry for many years to come.

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