Chinese automakers pose a growing threat to their American counterparts — even without selling directly to consumers in the U.S. market.
Sales of China-made vehicles are rising at notable rates in Asia, Europe and other countries outside those continents. China recently reported exports of more than 5 million vehicles in 2023, topping Japan to become the top country for car exports in the world.
That volume from well-established, government-owned companies like SAIC and Dongfeng, as well as newer players like BYD, Nio and others, has catapulted China from the sixth ranking to the top seed since 2020. It comes amid declining U.S. vehicle exports as companies such as General Motors have cut international operations. U.S. auto exports in 2022, the most recent data available, were down 25% from their peak in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
America — fourth globally in vehicle exports prior to 2020 — ranked sixth in the world last year, falling behind No. 5 Mexico, No. 4 South Korea and No. 3 Germany, according to global consulting firm AlixPartners.
I know Chinese are really bad for safety like escalators, elevators, and automated parking for bikes cars and people getting trapped or dying in them, but cars are purposely made to crumple so the cars take all of the energy instead of the passengers. Is there a too much crumple going on in Chinese cars the issue?
Yes, the engine crumples through the passenger compartment to sit in the trunk.
Interesting. European countries are buying them, are they making them higher quality for them, because I imagine that wouldn’t pass their safety standards?
Maybe. The crash test I saw was from a few years ago at this point at least so maybe the stuff they’re exporting these days is better quality, but I still wouldn’t trust them. Never cheap out on safety equipment, always spend the money on stuff you know is good. There are way to many examples out there of China shipping stuff that looks good initially and then after a couple years and nobody is paying attention start swapping out quality parts with substandard stuff that fails QC.