Focusing on Software Instead of Hardware

Many established automakers in America are masters of hardware engineering but out of their depth when it comes to software. That dynamic was surprisingly reversed among many of the Chinese vehicles we drove. With few exceptions, many felt underdamped, underbraked, and almost completely devoid of any real feedback or feel from the steering wheel. Market preference certainly plays a part in those choices, but good fundamentals are good fundamentals.

Chinese automakers can likely get away with that because of how much of a focus is put on infotainment software in their cars. From flashy Unreal Engine–powered graphics in the MG Cyberster to seamless phone mirroring in the SU7 and the plethora of AI voice assistants, the software in even the cheapest Chinese cars on hand was more capable and feature-rich than most systems in our market. Some of the highlights included Ji Yue’s video games (the San Francisco Rush 2049 copy was notably fun), Nio’s adorable Tamagotchi-style “Nomi” GPT-powered AI assistant, and the Zeekr’s attention to detail—mirroring the droplets of rain outside on the digital avatar of our car in the infotainment display. While we were entertained, no doubt the inclusion of apps like WeChat, Alipay, and Weibo in most of these cars would be more useful day to day for their owners.

Should We Be Afraid of Chinese Cars?

Is the fear of Chinese cars being sold in the United States justified? It depends on who you are.

From a pure product standpoint, none of the cars we drove was fundamentally any better or significantly worse than the American, European, Japanese, and South Korean options on the market today. Chinese buyers clearly value different things from their cars than Americans do, generally preferring smaller sedans to SUVs, being driven rather than driving themselves, and interconnectivity with their other smart devices. We have a hard time imagining American shoppers getting as excited about being able to post on TikTok from their cars or valuing self-parking features as much as Chinese buyers seem to, especially because some American automakers have begun removing the latter feature from their cars because customers didn’t use it.

From a quality and price standpoint, however, Western automakers have good reason to be spooked by Chinese competition. Nearly all the cars we sampled were well-built and loaded with features, and when converting their as-tested price from yuan to dollars, they would greatly undercut North American competition. This is well illustrated by the Tesla Model 3 we had on hand. In China, a Shanghai-built Tesla stickers for $38,050, whereas an identical California-built Model 3 is priced at $49,130 in the U.S. There are many factors at play here—a short Chinese supply chain, lower labor costs in China, heavy Chinese government subsidies for electrified vehicles (both for customers and manufacturers), and the aforementioned price war among automakers—but it’s not hard to envision a scenario where an American family makes the rational decision to purchase a Chinese compact SUV like an Xpeng G6 or an iCar 03 simply because it’s $10,000 cheaper than an equivalent Model Y or Ford Bronco Sport.

More so than Japanese automakers in the ’70s and ’80s, there’s a genuine risk of Chinese automakers Walmarting American automakers out of existence. The solution back then involved “voluntary” quotas with a treaty ally that led to new factories for Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota, and Subaru across the U.S. and some access to the Japanese market for American automakers.

With the American and Chinese governments at odds over just about everything and little trust between the two, a repeat of that approach is unlikely. Instead, the 100 percent tariff the federal government has placed on Chinese EVs, auto parts, and software, in addition to increasingly strict EV tax credit rules governing Chinese-processed components in American, European, Japanese, and South Korean cars, appears to be just the start. Both Democratic and Republican administrations have signaled a clear desire to protect the nation’s auto industry from negative impacts by a country both parties view as working against American interests globally.

Chinese entry into the U.S. beyond Geely’s Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus foothold no longer appears imminent, but the interest to do so likely won’t wane. No matter what happens, we’ll be sure to keep you ahead of the curve.

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.

Photo contributions by Dcar