Chinese automakers want to come to US. They could be here fairly soon

[NickB79]

Source: CNN

Chinese cars could be at an American dealership sooner than you think, and that’s good news for US consumers.

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

That’s likely to change, according to experts, with Chinese autos hitting US showrooms in the next five to ten years.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/15/business/chinese-automakers-eye-us-move

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If China started marketing some of their cutting edge EV's here, it would decimate US automakers.

[Klarkashton]

1. I'm good with this. Enough bullshit already.

If they have better products it's not their fault it's our fault

[SoFlaBro]

2. These MAGA motherfuckers only want to fucking increase tariffs to fuck us all up. Piss on those fucking MAGA turds.

[Deuxcents]

3. Didn't they see how we treated the Japanese and South Korean auto workers in Georgia?

[EX500rider]

7. Maybe they should have had work visa's?

In September 2025, over 300 South Korean nationals were detained and subsequently removed from the U.S. following an immigration raid at a Hyundai electric vehicle manufacturing site in Georgia. They were found to be working illegally, possessing expired visas, or using visa waivers that prohibited them from working, prompting federal officials to act against the unauthorized employment.

What Japanese?

Try working illegally in China and see how that goes.

[walkingman]

4. I think we should be able to choose what we want to buy. It's call the free market

something that most Americans have supported for decades. Autos are overpriced in the US.

I worry more about US policies than a Chinese threat.

[flvegan]

5. As long as they meet or exceed US safety standards, then good.

No shortcuts. No small family trying to save some money should be flattened by Johnny McBroDozer who is busy texting his cousin about what they should name their next child.

I can also see the Big 3 (Ford, GM, Stellantis) somehow "insisting" (re: paying off congressidiots) that they be imported and rebranded as their own products, adding 25% to the cost with zero actual input nor benefit. That's the shitty timeline we've been on and will continue to be on.

[SunSeeker]

6. We've given US auto companies so many chances and bailouts.

Yet they still produce expensive, unreliable pieces of shit, and have done so since the 1970s. I am totally disgusted with them. The last decent American car I owned was a 1965 Mustang.

[tazcat]

16. Ford was the only one NOT to take a bailout.

[SunSeeker]

23. I know, but Ford has leaned on protectionist policies like all of the other American car manufacturers.

And they got lazy.

[Callie1979]

17. I dont get the constant bashing of US auto quality.

A '65 Mustang was a dog compared to the autos of today. I've owned both foreign & domestic autos over =the past decades.
2007 342k miles on a Pontiac; only replaced the water pump
2013 279k Hyundai Elantra, water pump
2004 254k Chevy Monte Carlo, radiator & water pump
1999 214k Pontiac Grand Prix, water pump
1992 & '96 224k Acura Integra, water pump & fuel pump ; another Integra 218k
1986 Dodge Daytona, 228k transmission. The ONLY major issue & thats 40 yrs ago.
Currently driving a 2013 Civic with 212k on it & still own a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with 159k on it

According to JD Power survey, the number of defects per 100 cars between the #1 vehicle & the #20 car isnt much. #1 is a Lexus w/166. The #20 is a Lincoln w/206

Now if you want to bash PRICES I'll wave that flag with you every day. Thats why the ONLY new car I ever bought was my FIRST car. And I'll never buy another new one.

[SunSeeker]

22. It's all relative.

In 1965, the Mustang was the best little runabout around, compared to anything else out there at the time. And it was no dog.

Fast forward to the 1970s and 1980s, as gas got more expensive and people wanted something zippy but fuel efficient, Japan gave us the Civic and Corolla. American manufacturers gave us crap like the Pinto and Chevette. American car manufacturers never caught up and now have abandoned that segment to the Japanese. Your experience with American cars is not the norm.
And as you note, you now drive a Civic.

American manufacturers continue to lag behind foreign manufacturers with major component (i.e. engine & transmission) reliability issues that you don't get with Japanese manufacturers, and the disparity has only gotten worse. It's not just the number of defects per car, but what the defect is.

I would be happy to pay the high prices if the American cars were as reliable and efficient as Toyotas or Hondas. But they're not.

I really wanted to continue to support American manufacturers, but they have made it impossible. I currently own a 2021 Ford Escape PHEV. I wish I had bought the more expensive Toyota RAV4 Prime. The trips to the Ford dealership have gotten to be almost monthly. It took them 4 tries to fix a check engine light the last 2 months. The Escape was in the shop for weeks. My next car will definitely be a Toyota RAV4 PHEV. Life is too short to spend at the dealer. And Ford discontinued the Escape this year anyway. Ford has now abandoned the compact SUV market to the Japanese as well. Pathetic.

[radicalleft]

32. As someone who works for one of the big three

Your comments re insulting!

But go ahead...keep bashing the industry that employs hundreds of thousands of your fellow Americans and many more thousands around the globe.

[Jerry2144]

8. I'd love to get a Chinese EV

They've cracked the code on how to get range, reliability, and price up there.

[Callie1979]

18. Wait till Toyota gets their solid state batteries to market

They're expected to have almost unlimited lifetime & a range of over 600 miles per charge

[RainCaster]

9. I would like to buy a BYD

I've seen them in other countries, and I'm very impressed. Far better quality than Tesla or anything else from America.

[peppertree]

24. A common sentiment around the world, in fact

Take Argentina - where Trump's Mini-me, Javier Milei, parades non-stop as the "most anti-Chinese human alive today" (though the 'human' part is still up for debate).

Electric vehicle sales are finally starting to take off there. And BYD - which sold its first car in Argentina only last September, made up 72% of the 533 EVs sold there this January.

JMEV - another Chinese firm - made up 5% (GM was #2, at 7%).

And Tesla? One.

Not 1%....one car.

And the trend is only intensifying in BYD's favor: https://www.mendocinobeacon.com/2026/01/21/argentina-chinese-evs-arrival/

Their carma ran over Milei's dogma, you might say.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

35. I'm currently in Rwanda and ...

... we have a BYD electric. It is great for moving around town and I have taken int out to other parts of the country. With careful planning - making sure it is fully charged before starting - we made it there and back with no issues on a single charge.

I see a surprising number of Chinese vehicles - cars, medium to large trucks, buses, etc - many of them electric or hybrid all around Africa.

I would certainly consider on in the US. But parts and maintenance are a question here and would be a bigger one in the US.

Can we consider the "Big 3" American anymore. Crysler is not, not really, and I have doubts about Ford. Don't know enough about GM these days.

I used to live in Michigan and drove a Toyota Camry. I was at a gas station in Flint when a guy in a GM asked me, "What's it like to drive a foreign car?" I replied, "I don't know. This one was built in Tennessee. I hear your engine is from Mexico." I doubt I was very accurate with my assertions, but it did shut him up.

I had a hard time getting my Toyota serviced in Michigan, so I ended up getting an Oldsmobile after the Camry died.

[msongs]

10. so the UAW is gonna work for china level slave wages to keep car prices down?

[multigraincracker]

29. I don't think so and hope they organize them for a living wage.

[mitch96]

11. Pay the rRump family enough money and you can get what you want....nt

[mountain grammy]

12. And by "fairly soon" your mean 5 to 10 years?

This old llady will be lucky to be alive, much less driving in 5 years.

I sure do dream about one of those cheap ass electtric Chinese cars though, and the motor homes.. pure genius!

[Polybius]

14. By then, self-driving cars might be fully mainstream and perfected

No driving necessary. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

[mountain grammy]

25. Sounds good!👍

[Dr. T]

13. I cringe when I see the words "Made in China" on anything.

They make cheap junk that falls apart fast and can't be repaired.

[BidenRocks]

15. A BYD would be interesting.

I could trade my 328i BMW.
Chump never worked on a car and is ignorant when he says we want gas and grease back.
Us Boomers had a wonderful run with the 60s and early 70s Muscle Cars.

Younger went smaller with Hondas and imports.

New drivers just want to get where their going whether driving or Lyft or Metro. I feel the big attachment is gone.

Inexpensive, safe, a good interior interface and style.

China is forcing change and no amount of tariffs will stop it.

[Callie1979]

20. I dont know, I see a LOT of "ego vehicles" on the roads today.

[aggiesal]

19. If it's the same cars they're planning on selling in Canada

They're cheap cars that don't satisfy Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) by the National Highway Traffic Safety administration (NHTSS)

[Mosby]

21. Most Chinese-manufactured vehicles do not meet U.S. federal safety standards

For a Chinese car to be road-legal in the US, it must undergo extensive, expensive modifications to meet NHTSA crash test and equipment requirements.

[Ilikepurple]

26. I'm guessing that and anticipated tariffs is why you can't go to a showroom and buy one today.

But, Chinese automobile manufacturing is not a static proposition and neither are NHTSA rules or perhaps the existence of NHTSA itself in the Trump era. I’m not sure what your response is actually to? If you are suggesting that someone doesn’t buy a Chinese car from let’s say Europe and hope to register it here, then I agree that it would be very expensive to import and to modify to pass regulations. If you are asserting, tariffs or import bans aside, that Chinese automobile manufacturers couldn’t bring cars that pass US regulations after showing success in passing different but demand Euro regulations, I’d have to disagree, especially as they gear up to ent we the Canadian market.

[multigraincracker]

30. Neither do the ones built by Musk.

Unsafe at any speed. Death traps.

[yaesu]

27. I remember a month ago watching a video about Russians having no options but China vehicles and nightmare stories about

strange things going wrong with them, getting locked out, starting by themselves, ect... I do know for a fact the China made transceivers are some of the finest I have used so what they sell here will probably be of higher quality compared to Russia.

[Miguelito Loveless]

28. US legacy automakers rolled over

for the Child Rapist on EVs. Trump will sell them out once China offers him a bribe. They have sought their own destruction. No sympathy.

[radicalleft]

33. NO THEY DID NOT!

The US doesn't have the infrastructure for mass adoption of EV and customers just didn't want them. FMC just wrote off $11.5B due to this and no company walks away from that kind of investment if they think it will get better.

[Miguelito Loveless]

34. EV adoption was increasing double digit

in the US for quite some time, but with increasing backlash and disinformation campaigns by Big Oil and legacy auto. While the rate of increase did decline, the increase in sales was still positive. Dealers however did NOT want to sell EVs as it upset their profit model (ICE cars require more repairs and maintenance which is 50% of a dealer’s profits). I know this first hand from visiting dealerships posing as a buyer in my area. They would do everything possible to discourage buying EVs, including disparaging EVs with the usual canards. I also went with actual buyers of new and used EVs as a “friend” and got to listen to sales people lie through their teeth. Trump’s hostility towards EVs was present with legacy auto for the last decade.

The reason Tesla sold a lot of EVs is because it was the only dealer that wanted to sell EVs (and now Musk has screwed that up with his pro-Nazi/White Supremacist views and ties to Epstein.

Even with salesmen actively trashing EVs, sales growth was positive, but when Trump came in legacy auto caved immediately, as they shared his views. Meanwhile, Kia/Hyundai are selling more EVs every month.

[hunter]

31. Look how well English exceptionalism worked out for them.

It's been a downhill slide since they lost their empire, and that slide continues as they are now regretting Brexit.

Exceptionalism is not going to work out any better for the U.S.A..

China has become a major industrial power. That's the reality we live in.

With a few exceptions China can match the quality of anything made in the U.S.A. or Europe.

Here in the U.S.A we're going to be as surprised by Chinese cars as we were by Japanese cars.

Today many U.S. passenger vehicles are nostalgia cars, Corvettes and Challengers for example. Our exports are limited because monster American Trucks and SUVs are simply too big and clumsy to drive comfortably on city streets in much of the world.

Personally I want car culture to go away. We ought to be rebuilding our cities, turning them into affordable attractive places where car ownership is unnecessary. The people with the smallest environmental footprints generally live in cities, don't own cars, and have a largely vegetarian diet. We don't have to force that lifestyle on anyone because many people would prefer it but the opportunity is denied them.

[Vinca]

36. US automakers have had their chance. Lots of people want small, energy-efficient vehicles.

US automakers seem intent on putting out giant pickup trucks with crew cabs for people with no crews and that require a stepladder to get into. They make a few small cars, but they're not affordable. I'm not paying 3 times the cost of my first house for a new car.

[angrycaveman]

37. competition is the only thing that forces quality

Can you imagine the junk we would be forced to buy today without the Japanese? But it wasn't all roses and fanfare at first and I'm sure the Chinese car makes will face the same harassments as the 70/80s.

early U.S. owners of Japanese cars, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, faced harassment and anti-Japanese sentiment driven by industrial decline in Detroit, trade tensions, and the "Buy American" movement. Japanese cars were initially dismissed as poor quality "tin boxes" in the 1960s, but as they became popular for fuel efficiency and reliability during the 1970s oil crisis, they became targets for public destruction by proponents of domestic automakers.

Firm believer that the Japanese car makers had a direct impact on forcing American car makers to think about quality and price, and it was for the better. The same will apply here.

And America can still compete. I love the story coming from Slate: https://www.slate.auto/en