Does anyone know what Chinese car quality is like? I guess there aren't any 15 year old Chinese EVs. Whenever someone says a Chinese product is exactly the same but half the price, it usually isn't the same quality.
There doesn't seem to be any significant longevity concerns, but they have also not been around that long.
They are years behind with sodium ion which is being mass produced in China already and being used in ultra cheap EVs that simply don't exist in the US market.
And then solid state batteries are also something that China looks to be on track with to start producing in larger volumes in the next year (low volume production is already happening). And that's despite companies like Amprius, Quantumscape, etc. being based in the US. In short, the US car manufacturing industry has long lost its leadership position. And that's including Tesla that until a few years ago was producing better EVs than others. No longer true and they are struggling to keep up currently.
By treating batteries as a component roughly on par with an air filter, US manufacturers have lost out on multiple R&D cycles and put themselves in such a poor strategic position that it's unlikely they will be able to survive without major restructuring.
Surely the Chinese market being hyper competitive and in a price war would imply bosses selling to this market needing to cut costs even when doing so comes with the consequence of reduced long-term quality?
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/04/a-small-cheap-ev-you-ca...
The discount from an American perspective kicks in at the $20K and above range.
Mind you, it's a discount if you earn in dollars or a salary comparable to the West, which most Chinese, ASEAN, and other Asians do not (aside from the Asian Tigers or those working in top tech or finance roles in CN/ASEAN/IN).
If you're household post-tax income is around $6k, a $12K let alone a $20K car is expensive given that housing is fairly pricy as well, and saving for rainy days is much more critical.
We saw that with Japenese cars in the 70s (turns out quality was high) and some of the most valued brands now are Japenese (Honda, Nissan, Toyota etc.)
Then it was the Korean turn. Cheap right, so low quality? Turns out Kia, Hyundai, Daihatsu etc are nice cars.
Sure, there are a few early iterations that needed improvement, but in each case those quickly got ironed out. And Chinese cars are far past the "early" stage. They're genuinely good cars for very competitive prices.
When it comes to EVs They're ahead in quality. BYD particularly seems to come with a very good reputation.
Sure, the US is obsessed with large SUVs. But the rest of the world isn't. US car makers are not making cars that the rest of the world wants, and the export market is closing. (I'd count Ford as something of an exception here, they still produce small cars for foreign markets, but they're cutting corners on quality and reputation is falling...)
They do have a lot of space / leg room.
I don’t see any reason to buy one over a Tesla except for saving money.