When I was a kid – many, many years ago – Skoda jokes were a staple of playground banter. “Why do Skodas have heated rear windscreens? To keep your hands warm while pushing it.” “What do you call a Skoda with a sunroof? A skip.”
To say you owned a Skoda was to invite unending ridicule, even when the Czech manufacturer started making much improved cars under the stewardship of the Volkswagen Group. But today, Skoda makes a whole portfolio of genuinely great cars. Nobody’s laughing at them now.
This just goes to show that if you practise something enough, you’ll get good at it. See also Korean carmakers; 20 years ago, Kia and Hyundai were the butt of similar jokes. “Win the Superbowl and drive off in a Hyundai,” mocked Kanye West in his 2005 song Gold Digger. But in recent years the Hyundai-Kia family has put out absolute bangers like the Ioniq 5, i30N, Stinger and myriad long-warranted electric cars, while Kanye’s warranty has apparently run out.
All of which brings us to Chinese cars. Many will remember years of hilarity as random Chinese brands with weird-sounding names appeared at international motor shows with shameless ripoffs of more established manufacturers. How we laughed and pointed.
But China has ignored our (often justified) scorn, and persevered. The country’s automotive industry, both private and state-owned, has dived wholeheartedly into electric vehicle tech, tempted some key foreign talent to help them develop their own style, and invested huge amounts of money not only in homegrown brands but also in more established carmakers. For example, Geely now owns Volvo, Polestar and Lotus, SAIC took over the failed MG brand and even legendary tyre manufacturer Pirelli is majority owned by the ChemChina corporation.
It’s difficult to get involved with such names without learning a thing or two. And with so many domestic customers in China (population 1.4 billion), the country’s designers and engineers have gotten rather good at making cars. China has produced more vehicles than anywhere else since 2008 – more than Europe, Japan and the USA combined. Today it’s also one of the biggest exporters to the rest of the world – more than three million cars headed out of Chinese ports in 2022.
The electric car revolution has provided a very decent ‘in’ for Chinese brands wanting to expand to the UK car market. MG’s initial run of Chinese-developed petrol and diesel cars had a lukewarm reception, but then the MG ZS EV proved an excellent small electric car at a bargain price. This was followed quickly by the acclaimed MG5 electric estate and the MG4 hatchback (above). We’ve also seen Great Wall Motors bring its sub brand, Ora, to our shores in the form of the quirky Funky Cat, and Maxus – well established in the van world – turn its attention to cars with the Mifa 9 MPV and trucks with the T90 EV. All of these vehicles have had much to recommend about them.
And so to Sussex on a July morning, where I had a chance to spend a few hours with the latest Chinese brand to set up on UK shores. BYD is based in the city of Shenzhen and has been making batteries since 1995 and cars since 2003, but only launched in the UK in April 2023. It’s positioning itself as a “premium accessible” brand, with some fancy features and an element of quality, but without sky-high prices. The title BYD, by the way, originally came from the Chinese language version of the company name, but has since been declared an initialism for “Bring Your Dreams”. Moving on…
Its first UK car is the £36,000, all-electric Atto 3 – a compact SUV rivalling the likes of the Kia Niro EV, forthcoming Hyundai Kona Electric, Skoda Enyaq iV and plenty more. It’s not a bad looker and it’s got a refreshingly funky interior inspired by gym equipment (yes, really). Sure, some bits are very gimmicky, but I’m totally sold on the tunable elastic guitar strings that make up the door pockets. In what other car can you play riffs while you wait at traffic lights?
The 60.5kWh battery will give you a range of around 260 miles – not outstanding but certainly not bad – and the standard equipment list is very generous, featuring LED headlights, 18-inch alloys and a large, clever rotating touchscreen (portrait mode gives you better upcoming visibility when using the navigation, and there’s a gadgety wow factor to hitting a button on the steering wheel and watching the screen whirl round). Keyless entry, panoramic sunroof, electric front seats and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are all bundled across the range, too.
A few hours zipping around in the Atto 3 confirms that it’s comfortable on the move and very reasonable to drive. It’s not right at the top of the recommended list in a packed market of small electric SUVs (the boot’s a bit small and several rivals have a bigger battery range) but it certainly doesn’t disgrace itself against very well established competition. More BYDs are coming – expect to see the electric Dolphin hatchback and the range-topping Seal saloon (below) on sale before the end of the year. The dealer and service network is set to grow at pace, too.
A glance at upcoming Chinese cars bound for our shores shows a rapidly growing list of quirky, interesting and increasingly fun vehicles. The MG4 XPower promises a whopping 429bhp of electric hatchback for £36,495, while Ora will follow up the Funky Cat with a saloon (called the Lightning Cat in China, but possibly renamed over here).
By the end of the year, Nio – of Formula E and EP9 hypercar fame – plans to continue its European expansion with a UK operation. Watch out for it at Goodwood this weekend. Next year should see the arrival of HiPhi, with its X SUV – a rival for the Tesla Model X – and the Z saloon, which will take on the Porsche Taycan. Chery – a very well established brand in China – has plans to bring its Omoda 5 SUV to Britain in 2024, too.
Other Chinese brands already have plans in place for Europe and many will hit the UK too – watch out for names like Seres, Exeed, Haval and Wey, as well as Neta, Bestune, Hongqi, Lynk & Co and more.
The UK car market is changing and evolving in myriad ways, from the way cars are bought and sold, to the technology under the bonnet. Alongside that is a rapidly expanding list of new players on the scene and a huge chunk of them are coming from the Far East. Don’t be surprised to see Chinese brands start hitting the British bestsellers list. Their expertise and quality means you really don’t want to be that person spouting outdated jokes.
Delayed by the pandemic, Chinese OEMs are now accelerating plans to re-enter the European market — after a failed attempt around 2017.
While it’s clear they’ve learned from experience and now approach with an attractive brand strategy adapted to the non-Chinese vehicle buyer, they still face historic biases — the ‘Made in China’ label still being perceived as synonymous with poor quality, and the state’s relative political isolation among them. For example, in a recent GfK study, we found consumers held a favorable view of a vehicle, but perceptions changed when the country of origin was known and factored in. We cover this topic extensively in our article Dragon on wheels: How Chinese car brands are disrupting the EV landscape.
Despite signs of rigorous strategic preparation, the road ahead for Chinese automakers is as challenging as it is promising. In theory, it can be done. Chinese OEMs have demonstrated recent, remarkable success in other categories, such as Small Domestic Appliances — where, in just under five years, they have come to dominate the robot vacuum cleaner segment.
Have Chinese car brands done enough to be successful the second time around? What about barriers that are outside their control? Rooted in findings surfaced by a study conducted with a representative sample of Belgian consumers, we delve into the nuanced dynamics that influence this ambitious plan’s success or failure, and its impact on the global industry.