{"id":89581,"date":"2026-02-15T09:25:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotive.einnews.com\/article\/892548902"},"modified":"2026-02-15T09:25:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:25:23","slug":"chinese-automakers-want-to-come-to-us-they-could-be-here-fairly-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/chinese-automakers-want-to-come-to-us-they-could-be-here-fairly-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese automakers want to come to US. They could be here fairly soon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Chris Isidore, John Liu, CNN<\/p>\n

(CNN) \u2014 <\/b>Chinese cars could be at an American dealership sooner than you think, and that\u2019s good news for US consumers.<\/p>\n

Chinese car companies make more vehicles than anyone else on Earth and export more as well. <\/strong>But high tariffs and hostile US-China trade relations have kept them out of the American market.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s likely to change, according to experts, with Chinese autos hitting US showrooms in the next five to ten years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ambition is there,\u201d said Lei Xing, an independent auto analyst and former chief editor of China Automotive Review magazine, even if companis have to build factories here rather than ship cars here from China.<\/p>\n

He said multiple Chinese automakers have shown \u201creadiness to come to the US, to build in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would be a helpful for American car buyers. Greater competition means more choices, especially for EVs, which in turn should lower prices. But it would also squeeze the profits and market share of the car companies already selling in the US, likely affecting the nearly 1 million people who work for them.<\/p>\n

Chinese cars shipped to America come with a 100% tariff, by far the highest tariff rate for any import. But <\/strong>President Donald Trump, a critic of most Chinese products, recently seemed welcoming of Chinese brands if they build plants in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they want to come in and build the plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that\u2019s great. I love that,\u201d he said in a speech last month at the Economic Club of Detroit. \u201cLet China come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the administration\u2019s willingness to let Chinese automakers enter the US market, a White House official told CNN last week that \u201cthe administration supports all investment into the United States as long as our national and economic security is not compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n

China automakers take the lead<\/h2>\n

Any Chinese entry into the market could further cement the country\u2019s industry dominance.<\/p>\n

China produced one-third of all cars worldwide last year, with more than 8 million of those exported <\/strong>to other markets around the globe, according to the <\/em>China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. That\u2019s up 30% compared to 2024. China eclipsed Japan as the world\u2019s largest exporter of vehicles in 2023.<\/p>\n

China is particularly competitive when it comes to electric vehicles. China is particularly competitive when it comes to electric vehicles. Chinese automaker BYD overtook Tesla last year as the largest electric car company worldwide<\/a> and Ford this week in global sales.<\/p>\n

Building a car factory the US could take several years, but leading experts agree that most Chinese carmakers are already eyeing the US market.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that every automaker in the world looks at the United States market as the ultimate arena for triumph,\u201d said Michael Dunne, an auto industry consultant who has been involved in Western automakers\u2019 efforts in China since the 1990s.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because American consumers are wealthier, and buy bigger, more expensive vehicles \u2013 meaning it\u2019s more profitable than anywhere else, he added.<\/p>\n

Dunne said the average price of a car exported from China last year was about $19,000, while the average price of a new car sold in the United States is around $50,000.<\/p>\n

BYD and other leading Chinese automakers did not respond to questions from CNN about their plans for entering the US market.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t mean that they haven\u2019t already dipped their toes in.<\/p>\n

Volvo, owned by Chinese automaker Geely, built a plant in South Carolina in 2015.<\/p>\n

The plant, currently undergoing a $1.3 billion expansion, could serve as a beachhead for Geely to start building cars from its Zeekr and Lynk & Co. brands in the United States. Geely\u2019s global communications chief Ash Sutcliffe hinted as much in an interview with Autoline last month.<\/a><\/p>\n

Geely already sells a limited number of Zeekrs to Waymo, the autonomous vehicle unit of Google parent Alphabet.<\/p>\n

Geely is the Chinese car company that\u2019s best poised to enter the US, said Xing. \u201cI think we\u2019ll have an announcement on that in the next 24 to 36 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Downward pressure on car prices<\/h2>\n

With American car prices hovering around record highs, Chinese companies would bring more choice and capacity. That\u2019s a prescription for lower prices, as has been the case in Europe since Chinese automakers entered that market, according to experts.<\/p>\n

But the popularity of Chinese brands in both Europe and their home market is not just based on price, but also the quality and value of the vehicles, said Bill Russo, head of Shanghai-based investment advisory firm Automobility.<\/p>\n

\u201cForeign brands have lost more than half of their market share (in China) in the span of less than five years, and the reason isn\u2019t because Chinese consumers were told they should buy Chinese products,\u201d Russo said. \u201cThey just made better cars, and they made they made better technologies at affordable price points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chinese carmakers\u2019 global expansion is also driven by a cut-throat price competition<\/a> among more than 100 domestic brands.<\/p>\n

In China, decades of government support and heavy investment created significant overcapacity in the automotive sector. Sluggish consumer spending this year added urgency for automakers to expand abroad.<\/p>\n

But the US market won\u2019t necessarily be easier, Russo said.<\/p>\n

Chinese car companies might run into trouble breaking through with American buyers who could be slow to trust an unknown brand. But he believes any concern that the car is \u201ccheap\u201d and not just low-priced could be quickly overcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo Americans really care who made the car as long as it\u2019s a good car? I don\u2019t think they do,\u201d he said. \u201cThey go to the Walmart, they buy Chinese stuff all the time. I think at the end of the day, it\u2019s the market cares about value for the money first. And xenophobia can only take you so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

The-CNN-Wire
\u2122 & \u00a9 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… the China Association of Automobile<\/span> Manufacturers. That\u00e2\u0080\u0099s … that most Chinese carmakers<\/span> are already eyeing … affordable price points.\u00e2\u0080\u009d Chinese carmakers<\/span>\u00e2\u0080\u0099 global expansion is … automotive<\/span> sector. Sluggish consumer spending this year added urgency for automakers<\/span> …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}