What travelling to China taught us about Chinese cars

Chinese brands have become a fixture of British roads in the blink of an eye with the likes of BYD already household names. Meanwhile, sales figures suggest other newcomers like Jaecoo, Leapmotor, Chery, Omoda and Geely are already getting plenty of attention.
So, what makes Chinese cars stand out against well-established rivals? We accepted an invitation from Geely to take a trip China to find out more. Here’s what travelling to China taught us about Chinese cars.

The first thing to strike us about China was the sheer scale of everything. During our travels around the eastern Zhejiang Province, we saw construction work wherever we went in evidence of the huge expansion in the country's network of expressways. Unlike at home, city streets were all just as wide as motorways, and they all intersect at giant traffic light-controlled crossroads. There wasn’t a single roundabout or narrow side street in sight. We didn’t spot any potholes either – most roads looked brand-new! All this explains why cars built for the Chinese market often need to be tweaked to cope with bumpy British roads and our twisty country lanes.

In China things move quickly. At Geely’s Research & Development Centre new models can be designed from scratch in under a year and sharing parts between models significantly speeds up the process. Using the EX5 as a template, Geely designed the upcoming Starray EM-i in just three and a half months. This rate of development has caused established brands to collaborate with China to improve efficiency. Renault recently designed and built the new all-electric Twingo in 100 weeks, reducing the design time by a whole year thanks to Chinese know-how.

Chinese drivers love tech. In China you’ll need to use your phone for everything, so it’s no surprise Chinese drivers want cars packed with gizmos. Most Chinese cars feature large touch-screens designed to mimic a smartphone, though we did spot plenty of drivers using their phones, too. This raises some obvious questions about distractions whilst driving. To counter this, Chinese cars tend to come with an extensive list of driving assistance systems. Increasingly, Chinese manufacturers are also investing in satellites and AI to facilitate over-the-air updates capable of improving the safety systems and other software in cars without need to visit a workshop or dealership.

4 | Comfort is key

Comfort is another top priority for Chinese drivers, who prefer to sit in a relaxed upright position with somewhere to rest their elbows – a posture inspired by traditional Chinese chairs. SUVs have become increasingly popular as they are well suited to this, and they also provide plenty of interior space and storage. It’s not all about the driver, though, and Chinese crossovers like the Leapmotor B10 and Geely EX5 tend to be particularly roomy in the back, too.

Chinese companies have a real ‘go big or go home’ mentality. For example, Geely’s Global Comprehensive Safety Centre holds five Guinness World Records including “World’s largest automotive safety laboratory” and “World’s longest indoor vehicle crash test track”. The development cost was approximately £200m and Geely intends to rent out the facility to other manufacturers in addition to using it for its own brands. This is just a glimpse at the amount of money behind many of these Chinese brands, which is another reason they can expand into new markets and grow their model line-ups at such a pace.

Chinese brands use the term ‘new energy vehicle’ (or NEV) to refer to pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Models like the Chery Tiggo 8 and Geely Starray EM-i also use the term ‘Super Hybrid’ to describe their systems, which feature larger batteries than many other plug-in hybrids allowing them to prioritise fully electric driving more often and providing longer official all-electric ranges.