Why is Chinese Car Engines for sale Better?

Chinese car brands have well and truly ‘arrived’ in the UK. They span all areas of the market – there are familiar companies with Chinese money backing them such as Lotus or Volvo, older brands given a new lease of life by Chinese ownership such as MG or Smart, and now there are an increasing number of Chinese companies entering the market unapologetically as their own brand.

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BYD, GWM, Omoda, Jaecoo, Leapmotor, Maxus, Xpeng, Skywell – all of these manufacturers are selling their cars in the UK, and if they’re successful you can expect them to be followed by even more in due course.

Carwow’s data shows that people are curious, too – eight out of the top 10 most configured cars on our site are from Chinese brands, with the Jaecoo 7 SUV topping off the list.

But are they actually any good? Here at Carwow we test all of the latest cars, Chinese or otherwise, and you can read more about how we conduct our testing here. But to put these new Chinese brands to the test we brought together three new models in some of the most competitive areas of the market, and put them up against three well-established alternatives from known and trusted brands.

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What are Chinese cars like?

Chinese cars usually promise value – they’re either cheaper than the alternatives from Europe, Japan or South Korea, or they’re the same price but with more powerful engines and loads of standard equipment thrown in. They often embrace the latest in powertrains – most of the Chinese cars in the UK are fully electric – and are very tech-focused.

However, we’ve found that this can come at the expense of some polish – whether that be in the driving experience or when it comes to actually using the interior tech.

Interior usability

Our first Chinese competitor, the Leapmotor C10, exemplifies this. It’s incredibly minimalist – you don’t get a proper key, as Leapmotor intends that you unlock the car with a smartphone app instead. On the inside, it has almost no physical switchgear, with everything being controlled through the central touchscreen.

The problem is that the touchscreen, while being absolutely loaded with features, isn’t that easy to use. All of those functions are buried in long menus that you have to scroll through, and operated by tiny onscreen buttons that are really hard to hit. And on top of all that, you don’t get Apple Carplay or Android Auto to bypass this awful interface.

We put the C10 up against a Ford Explorer, which is similarly touchscreen-driven. But the Explorer’s interface just feels so much better-suited to a car, where your finger will be jiggling around and where you don’t have the time to squint at diddy little labels.

Driving experience

Another area where we’ve found Chinese cars often fall short is the driving experience. We tested the Omoda 9, which is a large plug-in hybrid SUV – it offers a fully-loaded equipment list and a powerful engine for the same price as the much more Spartan Kia Sportage we tested it against.

On paper, it seems like a no-brainer to go for the Omoda. It’s bigger, more powerful, more efficient, and offers niceties such as heated and ventilated seats and a panoramic roof all set into a plush-looking cabin. The Kia, by contrast, feels a bit like a birthday dinner at the Harvester trying to compete with a princess party in a ballroom with an authentic unicorn.

But once you get behind the wheel, it doesn’t take too long to figure out where Kia has concentrated its time and effort versus the Omoda. Hit a speed bump in the Omoda, and the suspension first makes a thudding sound as it’s overwhelmed by the sudden movement. Then the rear of the car jumps as it bounces over. Then the entire body pitches backwards and forwards for a while. It’s uncontrolled and unrefined, where the Kia just deals with it in a fuss-free manner.

The Kia also takes corners better than the Omoda, which has remote-feeling steering and leans a lot in the bends. This sensation is common to a lot of Chinese cars, not just the Omoda – ones that feel great to drive, such as the BYD Seal, are in the minority, and most are just adequate. Or in some cases, genuinely bad.

Value

But the value equation does work out sometimes, and you can see that in our final twin test where we put the BYD Dolphin up against the Vauxhall Corsa Electric. These are both small hatchbacks, fully electric, that cost around the £30,000 mark.

The BYD, however, makes the Corsa look and feel a generation old. It has a more powerful electric motor yet will go longer on a charge – our testing indicates around 240 miles in the real world versus about 220 miles in the Corsa.

Step inside and you’ll notice the Dolphin feels airy and spacious – there’s room for six-foot adults to stretch out in the back – where the Corsa is cramped and dark. The Corsa’s dashboard is little more than functional, while the BYD trademark rotating touchscreen combines with smart switchgear and some quirky design touches to make the Dolphin feel playful and fun inside.

Top-spec Dolphins also get equipment that the Corsa can hardly dream of – heated and ventilated front seats, a panoramic sunroof, wireless charger, 360-degree camera and three ISOFIX points. Even the £34,000 Corsa Ultimate can’t challenge that.

And BYD has since launched an even cheaper electric car – the Dolphin Surf – which costs from less than £20,000 and offers a similar, if smaller, experience to the Dolphin.

Verdict

Our three Chinese cars here only give a snapshot of what’s turning into a very crowded market. Fantastic Chinese cars such as the high-tech Xpeng G6, great-to-drive BYD Seal or tax-friendly MG HS prove that more established manufacturers really do have something to fear.

But some Chinese cars have a little way to go before they can be wholehearted recommendations. Even the BYD Dolphin – the best car we’ve tested here – has its downsides, such as an awkward infotainment system and annoying tech. Some, like the Omoda 9, may be just what you’re looking for – but like any car, it’s best to take them for an extended test drive first so you know just what you’re getting into.

Chinese cars are absolutely worth investigating – you could save a packet and get your hands on something very good indeed. But you should definitely shop carefully.

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The Chinese car market is in a word, massive. It's truly gigantic and impressive, something like the world has never seen before, and will likely never ever see again. But what does "massive" really mean? It means the Biggest, the Most Brands and Models, the Most Expensive, the Cheapest, and Fully Electrified. Here is the market in 5 stunning facts:

1. It is the biggest in the world.

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The Chinese car market is the biggest passenger car market in the world. It became the largest in , and has remained the largest ever since. In , automakers sold 21.1 million passenger cars, up 7.3% from . That number is less stellar than before, 10% in and 16% in , but the growth alone (1.1 million) is almost as big as the entire Australian car market (1.15 million).

Growth is accelerating again with an additional 7.8% in March, and new tax breaks for cars with small capacity engines will likely keep sales going up. The entire year's growth of passenger car sales is forecast to reach 8%, which would size the market at 22.8 million sales, making China the largest market again, by a wide margin.

2. It has the most brands and models. 

Chinese car buyers are lucky. They can choose between more brands and more cars than any other car buyer in any other country. The number of brands is staggering. As of May there are 130 (one-hundred thirty) passenger car brands available in China. And the moment you read this the number is likely higher yet again, as new brands keep popping up.

There are three kinds of brands in China: the foreign brands, like Audi , the local Chinese brands, like Geely, and the sub-brands under foreign-Chinese car making joint ventures, like Venucia. Furthermore, local Chinese brands usually sell cars under various brands, these brands are included in the list only if they have their own logo, marketing, and sales channels. Excluded from the list are commercial-vehicle makers (buses, vans, light trucks, etc), but pickup truck makers are included.

The number of cars is so large it is hard to believe. As of May , and it took me a day to count them all, there are 952 (nine-hundred fifty-two) different cars available on the Chinese market. This number includes imported and locally-made cars. The number excludes body-style variants; so the Volkswagen Polo is counted once, and not twice for sedan and hatchback.

The foreign brand with the most offerings is Volkswagen with 28 Volkswagen-branded cars. If you add in the body-style variants the number goes up to 40. Out of the 28 names, 15 are manufactured at Volkswagen's two local joint ventures, and 13 are imported from abroad. Of the 15 cars that are made locally, seven cars are developed specifically for the Chinese market and not available anywhere else.

The local brand with the most offerings is Dongfeng Motors, selling a massive 36 Dongfeng-branded vehicles, including mini-MPV's.

3. It has the most expensive cars in the world.

Wealthy Chinese car buyers are unlucky. They pay far much more for their exclusive ride than their fellow high-rollers elsewhere in the world.  In the United States, a Mercedes-Maybach S600 costs $190,275. In China the very same car goes for 2.88 million yuan, or $440,000, more than double the U.S. price. One more example: the Ferrari 512berlinetta costs $323,745 in the U.S., and 5.3 million yuan in China - that is $810,000, just over 2.5 times more.

The enormous difference is caused mainly by two reasons: high taxes and healthy entrepreneurship. China slaps heavy taxes on cars with an engine capacity of four liters and above, which is the sort of engine most exclusive cars have under the hood. The S600 has a 6.0 liter V12 and the F12berlinetta a 6.3 liter V12. Taxes can be as much as 60% of the new price of a vehicle, and on top of that comes a 10% purchase tax.

The taxes clearly do not explain the entire difference. A large part of the rest comes from the "China premium", where automakers charge higher prices in China because they know the eager Chinese buyers are more than willing to spend their cash on an exclusive car, especially if they can get it fast.

However, since Chinese regulators have been looking into this practice, accusing automakers of profiteering. The probe hasn't really reached the high-end of the market yet, but automakers are nevertheless responding. Not by slashing prices but by downsizing engine capacity. This will allow them to lower prices just enough to make the regulators happy, while keeping the margins up. For example, the new Ferrari 488 has an engine capacity of 3.9 liter and price starts at 3.38 million yuan or $520,000. The predecessor of the 488, the 458, has a capacity of 4.5 liters and went for... 3.88 million or $590,000.

4. It has the cheapest cars in the world.

Less wealthy Chinese car buyers are also very lucky. They pay much less for an affordable car than buyers in other countries, because the market also has the cheapest cars in the world, in almost every category. This end of the market is the exclusive domain of the local Chinese automakers.

The cheapest car as of May is the Jiangnan TT, a licensed variant of the second generation Suzuki Alto. The TT is manufactured by Jiangnan Auto, a subsidiary of Zotye. The TT seats four and is powered by a 36hp 0.8 liter three-cylinder engine. Price starts at only 20,800 yuan or $.

And so it goes on. Cheapest seven-seat minivan? The Gonow Xinlang for 45,800 yuan. The cheapest small sedan? Try the BYD F3 for just 43,900 yuan. The cheapest compact sedan? That's the Lifan 820 for 76,800 yuan. We end these examples with the cheapest compact pickup truck, the Beijing Auto Works Zongshu for 51,700 yuan.

Prices can be so low because automakers often use decades-old platforms and technologies, which lowers the price of manufacturing. Add to that low labor costs, low development costs (they don't really develop anything), and often generous subsidies of the local governments in the locations where the automakers are based, and you end up with a very low-cost and a very low-priced car. The margins are thin, but most automakers sell just enough to stay around.

5. The Future is Electric

Where does it go? What will grow? The Chinese car market is so large that there are many segments that will see more growth than others. Certain future best sellers are mini MPVs, compact SUVs, and premium SUVs.

But the biggest growth will come from new-energy vehicles (NEVs), the hottest market segment now and in the future. NEVs include electric cars and plug-in hybrids, holding 60% and 40% of the NEV market respectively. In sales of new-energy vehicles stood at 188,700 units, only 0.9% of the total market but representing a growth of 223% compared to .

The main reasons behind the ballooning sales is the Chinese government, fanatically promoting NEVs in a bid to reduce air pollution and to modernize the local auto industry. Subsidies for new-energy cars are as high as 90,000 yuan, making NEVs attractive for a large audience that attracts more automakers which in turn attracts more buyers.

Local governments add more incentives, like free license plates and free parking. And China is finally getting serious about adding more public chargers for electric cars. Although problems remain inside housing complexes, public spaces see a fast addition of brand new charges, operated by the State Grid, China's state owned electricity company.

The beneficiaries are mainly the local Chinese automakers, which are adding many new electrics and plug-in hybrids to their lineups. On last month's Beijing Auto Show they showed more than 140 NEVs. Foreign automakers are hindered by regulations that force them to develop EVs with a Chinese partner, but they were also plain late to the party, playing wait-and-see while the locals started to make cars, and they can make them very inexpensively; the cheapest full-electric in China is the Zotye Yun 100, priced at just 63,600 yuan after subsidies.

Final words

The largest market in the world, with growth poised to accelerate again, is supported by expensive cars, cheap cars, the government, and increasingly by electric cars. China will remain an exciting place for the car industry for a long time coming; the place to be and the spot to watch.

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