I drove some Chinese cars. Here’s what I thought.

Western automakers are doomed if they keep trying to hide behind tariff walls

Chinese carmakers are upending the global auto industry, particularly the electric vehicle space. As Tesla declines due to its stale product line and Elon Musk’s embrace of far-right politics, competitors have seen an opportunity — and no one has seized it better than companies like BYD. The Chinese company now sells more vehicles and makes greater revenue then Tesla, as the latter continues to decline one quarter after another. Other Chinese brands like Geely and Chery are rising too.

In the US discourse, Chinese vehicles are either of inferior quality — something that seems hard to argue against Tesla, given its longstanding quality-control problems — or a cybersecurity threat, based on the notion that the Chinese government may tap into the infotainment systems in every vehicle made by a Chinese company. (No one tell them Volvo is now owned by Geely, or that models from Buick, Lincoln, and Polestar are imported from China.) Quite frankly, it’s silly and little more than a cover for protectionism.

As Chinese automakers have gained more ground in the past few years, my desire to try driving some has only grown. That’s not really an option in Canada because our government has followed in the footsteps of the United States. But when I headed down to New Zealand earlier this year, I decided it was time to take some vehicles for a spin.