We Test Several Top Chinese EVs Against the Tesla Model 3! In China!

The Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming!

Hardly a day passes in the U.S. without some serious consternation about “cheap” Chinese electric cars and their supposed imminent entry into the American market. What this handwringing ignores, however, is the billion-dollar question: Would Americans even want them, anyway? That’s an impossible question to answer from a desk, so we went to China to find out, with the goal of pitting one of the best American EVs—the 2024 Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Long Range—against three of China’s latest and greatest (with an America-bound European EV added to the mix for good measure), the Nio ET5, Xiaomi SU7 Max, Zeekr 007, and the Volkswagen ID7 Vizzion Pro.

It is, however, incredibly difficult for foreigners to legally drive in China due to onerous driver’s license requirements. Sourcing cars in a foreign country when one doesn’t have the legal right to drive in that country is even more difficult. So we enlisted some local help, partnering with journalists at Dongchedi (DCar), who purchased the Tesla, Nio, Xiaomi, Zeekr, and VW on our behalf. It also helped set us up at one of China’s newest automotive proving grounds, which features a nearly 3-mile-long Formula 2–rated track, a highway circuit, an urban drive loop, and an asphalt lake, allowing us to evaluate how all five cars perform in real-world conditions without the risk of becoming intimate with the Chinese legal system.

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What the &#%! Is a Zeekr, Xiaomi, or Nio?

They might not be familiar to Westerners, but Nio, Zeekr, and Xiaomi are heavy hitters in China.

Nio, thus far, has made the biggest waves outside its home market. Founded as a premium Tesla challenger in 2014, Nio’s premiere electric supercar has since been traded out for a full lineup of cars and SUVs, all capable of swapping their batteries in minutes at any of the company’s nearly 2,500 “Power Swap” stations, the bulk of which are located in China along highly trafficked “Power Journey” corridors.

New last year, the ET5 is Nio’s Model 3–sized entry-level sedan, promising sportier performance than its more luxurious stablemates at lower price points. Dual-motor all-wheel drive is standard with the ET5’s front and rear motors combining for 483 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. They’re paired with a choice of two battery options, either 75 kWh or 100 kWh, with a third 150-kWh battery promised. Nio notably allows customers to lease instead of buy its batteries, with battery lease deals in some markets including up to four battery swaps per month. Should you forgo battery swaps, the 400-volt ET5’s peak charge rate is a middling 125 kW. You can also buy the battery outright, as DCar did, opting for the 100-kWh pack. In China, the ET5 starts at $41,800 and stickered for $49,950 as equipped.

You might not know the name Zeekr, but you’re undoubtedly familiar with its parent company’s products. Founded in 2021 by Geely—an octopus of a conglomerate that owns Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, Lynk & Co, the firm that manufactures London taxicabs, half of Smart, and an assortment of other Chinese and Asian automotive brands—Zeekr is yet another bite at the premium and luxury end of the EV segment for its parent company.

The Zeekr 007, the brand’s second vehicle, presents as a Lucid Air complete with luxurious trappings in the Model 3 form factor. Like classic internal-combustion sports sedans, the 007 is rear-wheel drive, packing a single motor good for 415 hp and 324 lb-ft of torque (dual-motor all-wheel drive is also available). Battery options for the 800-volt Zeekr include a smaller Geely-developed 75-kWh pack capable of charging at a claimed 500 kW peak, or a long-range 100-kWh pack built by CATL. As the former is as of yet unavailable, our test 007 was equipped with the latter. Starting prices for the 007 are $29,350 in its home market, while ours went for $36,300 as equipped.

Xiaomi may not be a household name in the west, but in China it’s a tech giant akin to Samsung or LG, churning out everything from fancy cell phones and TVs to smart home products and appliances. It now makes a car, too. Designed by Xiaomi and built by the state-owned Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation (BAIC), the SU7 promises sporty performance while also seamlessly integrating with its owners’ household devices. With an eye toward performance, Xiaomi offers the SU7 in three configurations and with three different motor options, each named for a corresponding internal combustion engine. The base SU7 gets a 400-volt 73.6-kWh battery pack and a single-motor rear-drive setup dubbed “V6,” the SU7 Pro gets a 94.3-kWh pack and a more powerful “V6S” motor, and the range-topping SU7 Max, which we have here, gets a larger 800-volt 101.0-kWh battery pack and a dual-motor AWD setup dubbed “V8S” good for 664 hp and 618 lb-ft of torque.

The SU7 Max also comes with a grab bag of performance add-ons. On the hardware front, it features Michelin Pilot Sport EV summer rubber, Brembo brakes, and air springs. On the software side, the Xiaomi sports drift and track modes, the ability to turn the car either front or rear-wheel drive, and custom drive modes with 10 adjustable parameters.

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The high performance version of the Xiaomi SU7 features Michelin Pilot Sport EV summer tires, Brembo brakes, and a set of air springs.

Familiar Faces

Of our four assembled Tesla challengers, we’re willing to bet the only familiar face among them belongs to the new Volkswagen ID7 (branded the “ID7 Vizzion” in the People’s Republic). The follow-on to the ID4 SUV, the roughly midsize ID7 fastback sports VW’s latest EV tech, including new homegrown electric motors and software suite—the latter of which is especially important in this market. While the American-spec ID7 will get Volkswagen’s new 282-horsepower motor when it arrives late this year, Chinese-built ID7s make do with VW’s older rear-mounted 201-hp and 229-lb-ft motor—the same one that can currently be found in American ID4s. Unlike its contemporaries, the ID7 is only available with one battery pack, an 84.8-kWh unit. The ID7 is the cheapest car in this lot, stickering at $33,150.

Last but not least is the Tesla Model 3. Updated for 2024 with a more premium interior, new fascias, and revised chassis tuning in large part due to stiff Chinese competition, the Model 3 is the car Nio, Zeekr, Xiaomi, and Volkswagen all have in their crosshairs. The changes appear to have paid off for Tesla, with the Model 3 netting the top spot as the bestselling electric car in the world last year. The Shanghai-built Model 3+ here is the equivalent to the California-built Model 3 Dual Motor Long Range we get stateside. Like the American Model 3 LR, it sports a combined 394 hp and 377 lb-ft of torque and a 400-volt 78.4-kWh battery. The Model 3 is significantly cheaper in China than it is in the U.S.; our $38,050 Model 3+ would sticker for $49,130 here.

When it comes to range, the Chinese government rates the Zeekr as the vehicle with the longest legs, netting an incredibly optimistic 541 miles on the CLTC cycle, while the VW has the shortest, rated at 399 miles. These figures should be taken with a big, fat grain of salt. Why? Let’s look at the Tesla. The Model 3 Long Range’s CLTC estimate is 443 miles, while it’s EPA rated at 342 miles. Its MotorTrend real-world 70 mph road trip range is just 250 miles. We expect similarly drastic real-world range decreases with all the cars we’ve gathered here.

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What Do Chinese Buyers Think?

What became especially apparent to us once we hit the ground was that, despite the similarities between our two countries, Chinese car buyers generally value different attributes in their vehicles than we do. If, as the adage goes, “Americans buy horsepower and drive torque,” Chinese buy processing power and aim to let the car do the driving.

For Chinese shoppers, comfort, space, public perception, and value are king. That’s perhaps why there’s an outsized focus on artificial intelligence assistants, app-packed infotainment suites, style, and advanced driver assist systems in these cars.

Perhaps no car’s infotainment suite is more impressive than Nio’s, all thanks to a cutesy GPT-powered AI assistant perched atop the dash. Nomi, as she’s known, can control much of the car by voice command, lowering windows, turning on heated seats, changing drive modes, recommending and navigating to nearby restaurants, and more. She responds conversationally in English, turns her Tamagotchi-like face to whomever is speaking, and will even “play along” to your music, pull out an umbrella when it’s raining, and blow kisses. Even the coldhearted among us couldn’t help but find her charming.

She’s, of course, not without her flaws. Often interactions that got more than two or three conversation layers deep would have Nomi reverting to Mandarin, despite the system being set in English. Sometimes she’d say she was going to lower the window and then wouldn’t do it. She was also capable of looking up information online. Asked, for instance, what the population of China was, she toed the party line and included Taiwan in her 1.4 billion tally.*

Least impressive was Volkswagen’s brand-new software suite in the ID7. The system is slow to boot and respond, feels dated compared to its competitors, and lacks the same amount of depth and features the other cars have. Its voice assistant was also unimpressive. When asked in Mandarin to find a hamburger restaurant nearby (a task the other cars handled without issue), it not only couldn’t find one, but when it offered an alternative cuisine, the volume jumped and the style of assistant abruptly changed, almost like it handed us off to a different operator.

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The rest of the infotainment suites fall somewhere in between. Tesla’s was naturally familiar, with a solid (if charmless) voice assistant and easy-to-use layout, even if we wish it were less text based. Xiaomi’s is capable of much (including literally mirroring your Xiaomi phone on screen), but as none of us could read Mandarin, we found ourselves leaning on our friends at DCar (and Google Translate) to complete the same basic tasks we accomplished in the other cars. They, too, struggled with menu surfing and information overload. To us, a good infotainment setup should be easy to navigate from the get-go—even when in a foreign language.

Zeekr’s system won praise in that regard. Perhaps because of a passing similarity to Tesla’s, the 007’s infotainment suite was intuitive despite the language gap and was impressively well thought out. For example, despite offering zero utility, the system’s overview of the car (where you normally might open the trunk, for instance) not only showed our 007’s exact paint color and wheel option, but also digitally replicated the midsummer rain that was falling outside.

When it comes to interior design, space, and quality, we noticed some interesting trends.

The SU7 and 007, for instance, aim to differentiate themselves from Tesla with beautifully finished premium interiors, with bold color choices and mixtures of textures and materials (the SU7’s “wood trim” being the notable exception) that should have most American shoppers looking eagerly over their Chinese counterparts’ shoulders.

The spacious VW is stoic in comparison, but well built, incredibly comfortable, and familiar all at once.

That’s not to say the Model 3 doesn’t hold its own. It’s incredibly well packaged, spacious despite its small size, and, thanks to the Highland changes, feels premium despite its cost-conscious minimalism.

The ET5, we suspect due to Nio’s modular battery swap system, felt cramped and far smaller than the car’s size suggested. And, despite Nomi’s chattiness, she can’t cover for the fact that the cabin is notably cheaper to the touch than the other cars here, even if Nio attempted to dress it with textured trim and ambient lighting.

Lastly, despite the importance the Chinese market puts on advanced driver assist aids and “autonomous cars,” our limited sample size (in terms of miles driven) left us with the impression that Chinese brands aren’t any closer to self-driving than Tesla is, with cars regularly exhibiting poor decision-making. Self-parking systems don’t appear to work any better in Asia than they do in America, either. Consider us healthy skeptics, for now.

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What Would American Drivers Think?

Well, they’re certain to be wowed by both styling and value of the Chinese EVs, even if they might not ever have a single conversation with Nomi or look up burger recommendations. Performance is a whole different ballgame, though.

Nio is quick to point out the “supercar DNA” in the ET5, and off the line, its fastback sedan delivers. It’s the second quickest car here to 60 mph (3.3 seconds), and it makes sure to let you know it, playing an insanely loud synthesizer-like sound under acceleration, and, humorously under braking, too. Less entertaining, however, is the way the Nio handles. Its steering is excessively light and overly boosted, and brakes overtasked, resulting in decidedly unsporty understeer when you try to use the ET5’s power in anything but a straight line. Ride quality was also lacking, with the regular reverberations of road impacts through the cabin serving as a reminder of its near test-worst curb weight.

The Zeekr is less thrilling than the ET5 and unfortunately not much better—surprising considering its parent company is already selling cars in the West. Despite the exquisite attention to detail paid to the 007’s styling, touchpoints, and software, the hardware isn’t anywhere near as well resolved. The Zeekr goes down the road much like an old Lincoln might; its soft, well-damped ride is punctuated by vague, sloppy, overly boosted steering that’s hard to place on center, and its brakes are both somehow touchy and wooden at the same time. Despite plenty of power on tap, the Zeekr isn’t entertaining in a straight line, either. Throttle response is nonlinear, with most power seemingly unavailable until highway speeds regardless of the drive mode. It’s hardly thrilling to drive, which is disappointing considering how great it looks.

The Xiaomi SU7 Max is on the opposite end of the spectrum. A full-fledged performance model in a competition of more mainstream models (a Model 3 Performance would be its natural rival), we were majorly impressed by the SU7. The Xiaomi is blazingly quick in a straight line, with responsive motors and linear, almost gas-like throttle response in its sport modes. Master mode is even more fun, as Xiaomi will allow you bias the torque rearward, making lurid drifts (and inevitable spins) an encouraged possibility. The SU7’s chassis and air suspension tune are also well set up; the car is comfortable and well damped, with just a touch of body roll through corners.

Still, there’s some clear room for improvement. Like its compatriots, the SU7’s steering feel is non-existent and video-gamey—a surprise, considering the excellent Michelins the car wears. The SU7’s Brembos also weren’t up to the task of reliably slowing the car down, often overheating in the process. That’s a trait that was more easily forgiven in its slower, less performance-focused competitors here, but it’s unforgivable in a car capable of a test-best 2.7-second 0–60-mph run. Regardless, it'd be an impressive first effort save for the fact Xiaomi’s ghost builder, BAIC, has been building cars since 1958.

If the three Chinese EVs were inconsistent in how they drove, there’s a solidity and heft to the ID7 that they don’t have. The steering, brakes, and suspension all work in concert with one another, as if they were all designed by a single engineer. It is a bit unexciting, though—feeling more like a gas car than an EV. The ID7 Vizzion’s underpowered motor doesn’t help matters there. Be thankful it won’t be on offer for American ID7 buyers.

The Tesla shares the dynamic maturity of the VW, blending it with the power and level of performance the ID7 is incapable of matching. The Model 3’s dual-motor setup is torque-rich and responsive, while its steering is quick and rich in its feedback from the road. The firm but otherwise comfortable ride, quick steering, and punchy motors might even trick some into thinking the Model 3 Long Range is more of a sport car than it actually is (that notion disappears when driven in anger back-to-back against the SU7 Max). Even so, we found the fun on tap at spirited backroad speeds well balanced with its city and highway manners—a tricky balance to hit in this group.

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Are Chinese EVs Ready for America?

We went to China in order to find out how good Chinese EVs actually are, and also hopefully to answer the billion-dollar question: Would Americans even want to buy a Chinese EV in the first place?

Chinese EVs, at least in the incredibly competitive premium compact sedan segment, are generally good. The Zeekr, Xiaomi, and Nio impressed us not just with their expected advanced software defined features, but also with their style, quality, and value in this market. Would they appeal across the Pacific, though? Ignoring the 100 percent tariff on Chinese-produced EVs, some of them might. We could see the Xiaomi being popular among some enthusiasts, while the Nio might gin up significant interest if its entry into our market came with a nationwide battery swap network that could replace a depleted battery in less than five minutes. The software- and AI-heavy nature of the EVs, coupled with the lack of dynamic polish Western drivers have come to expect, would likely leave them niche products unless both tastes and tariffs change.

This leads us to our rankings, which certainly don’t square with any expectations we might have had on our daylong flights to China.

In last place is the VW ID7 Vizzion. Despite its excellent road manners and spacious cabin, its lack of pep, buggy software, and old-school approach had it bringing up the back of this pack of software-defined EVs.

We had high expectations for our fourth-place finisher, the Nio ET5. Although its battery swap capability can be a game changer for apartment dwellers and road trippers alike, Nio made a lot of compromises for the capability, including interior space, chassis composure, and cost. Nomi might be charming, but not enough to overlook some of the Nio’s fundamental flaws in this comparison. 

We also had high expectations for the third-place-finishing Zeekr 007. Geely’s global presence and our own experiences with countless Volvos and Polestars had us expecting greatness with the 007. Instead, we found a beautifully designed and tastefully finished sedan that lacks any real polish in its actual performance.

In second place was the much-beloved Xiaomi SU7 Max. The SU7 has the potential to go down as one of the archetypes of the EV performance sedan. Its admittedly derivative styling is stellar to look at, its interior is well furnished, and it’s a blast to drive. However, its penchant for cooking the brakes, uninspiring steering, and less intuitive software suite keep it out of the top spot.

The Tesla Model 3 remains safe, for now, at the top of the compact electric sedan food chain. With the Model 3, Tesla has expertly managed the near-impossible task of combining performance, technology, and comfort into one stylish and spacious affordable sedan. If what we’ve seen in China is any indication, the Model 3’s future supremacy is far from assured, but for now its first-mover advantage remains well intact. For more on our Chinese EV comparison, click here!

*An earlier version of this story mistakenly suggested that this inclusion was a flaw.

Photo Contribution by DCar

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5th Place: 2024 Volkswagen ID7 Vizzion

Verdict: America’s ID7 should be better, thankfully.

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4th Place: 2024 Nio ET5

Verdict: An impressive piece of technology in a surprisingly unimpressive car.

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3rd Place: Zeekr 007

Verdict: We expected more from the sole Chinese company currently selling EVs in America.

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2nd Place: 2024 Xiaomi SU7 Max

Verdict: A few hardware and software tweaks away from greatness.

1st Place: 2024 Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Long Range

Verdict: The very best vehicle Tesla makes today.

MotorTrend recently traveled to China to test drive a broad range of Chinese “new energy vehicles”—battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV), and electric range-extended vehicles (EREV)—in an editorial content sharing partnership with Dongchedi (aka Dcar). A subsidiary of ByteDance, Dcar is one of China’s top automotive media brands, and publishes new car videos and social media for the Chinese market on its website and app. DCar invited MotorTrend to join a special summer test program in Wuhan, China, at proving grounds specifically designed for autonomous-vehicle development. All of the vehicles we tested were either purchased, rented, or borrowed by DCar; none were supplied by their respective automakers. DCar also provided travel and lodging arrangements for MotorTrend, along with editorial support, including photo, video, and translation services.