The Influx Of Chinese Car Manufacturers in Europe Is Frightening
If you had told me 10 years ago that Chinese cars would be everywhere, I would have laughed at you and carried on with my day. I also would have been wrong as they have taken Europe by storm.
If we cast our minds back to 2016, the Chinese were making terrible cars and ripping off Western and Eastern designs left, right and centre. Who in their right mind wanted a MG6 Magnette anyway? Now, Chinese cars are on every street corner, in every car park, and on every major road in the UK, and it looks like they’re not stopping.
For example, the Jaecoo 7 was the UK’s second-most popular new car in January 2026, out-selling the Ford Puma, Nissan Qashqai and Vauxhall Corsa, which have been top of the charts for many, many years. Jaecoo managed to sell 4059 units of the 7 - that’s just the normal, petrol-powered model. Maybe it’s just a blip, as the Jaecoo 7 is remarkably cheap, undercutting rivals by thousands of pounds, and can be had on some very tempting finance deals.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a quality car, as the majority of the British public simply don’t care if it falls apart or has mechanical issues just after delivery. The owners' pages on Facebook are full of people complaining about their car being shit - shocker.
I’m told that there are some good Chinese cars out there, with the name BYD coming up often. But, I’m part of the group of people who just doesn’t trust these cars as they have no proven track record of building quality, desirable cars. Granted, BYD has been around for a while, but I won’t be going out of my way to buy one.
In the UK alone, there are about 20 Chinese manufacturers more than happy to sell you a car, with more to come, and there’s still plenty more to come, with the latest one set to land being Lepas, with possibly the ugliest car I’ve ever seen. It feels there’s a new brand coming every few months, and I simply can’t keep up.
I’m all for competition, on the basis that the product is good and worth my attention and money. A lot of these cars coming over from China just aren’t worth it, though. The bubble is going to burst at some point.
As briefly mentioned further up, desirability is a big factor here. With brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Cadillac, they are known for making some of the finest cars in the world, as they have heritage, whether that be from pure luxury, motorsport pedigree or being associated with world leaders and celebrities. Does the GWM Ora 03 have any of those things? No - if anything, it looks like one of those clamshell flip phones from the 2000s.
Even on the cheap end, you can’t fill a Vauxhall Astra-shaped car with spec and expect it to sell, and for it to be a hit. If the materials are worse than cardboard and if it drives like a bag of rocks, that doesn’t justify its existence.
No wonder the big Chinese players are buying shares, or buying out European brands - they want to learn how to make a good car that’s worth selling. There may be a point where the next-generation BYD Seal might possibly be the best saloon in the world, but at the moment, I’m not convinced.