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We recently got a chance to test out a few Chinese EVs in the US, despite that none of the models are actually available here. It gave us just a small taste of the variety and quality of vehicles coming out of the world\u2019s largest EV market \u2013 and largest car exporter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The Chinese EV market is flourishing, with a huge amount of models available in all different vehicle segments and price points. And the acceleration in sales has happened only in the last few years. EVs now make up about half of the new car market in China, whereas in 2020 they only accounted for about one in twenty cars sold.<\/p>\n This has come alongside a rapid expansion in available brands and models. There are hundreds of competing EV brands in China, with each offering their own slate of high tech features to try to compete in a cutthroat market. Chinese consumers have benefitted from this competition as prices have dropped due to the large amount of brands competing.<\/p>\n However, none of those Chinese cars are available here. Due to unwise tariffs, Americans have been locked out from buying Chinese EVs, restricting a source of competition that could help reduce ballooning vehicle prices. The net effect of these tariffs will be to increase pollution, increase vehicle prices, and lull American automakers into a sense of complacency that will leave the US further behind the rest of the world\u2019s auto market. Although, our neighbors to the north may consider letting Chinese EVs in, so, stay tuned.<\/p>\n \tAdvertisement – scroll for more content<\/span><\/p>\n And to get just a small sense what American consumers are missing, we got a test drive in four cars in a variety of styles. (In contrast to US EV offerings, which are\u2026 basically all SUVs)<\/p>\n We got this opportunity thanks to DCAR STUDIO, which is part of Dongchedi, a massive Chinese car review channel. You may remember it from the incredibly impressive Chinese self-driving test where it shut down real highways to test driver assist systems with real cars on real roads.<\/p>\n It just so happens that DCAR has a few Chinese EVs in the US, and we got a chance to take each of them out for a quick spin.<\/p>\n We only had a short time in each of these vehicles, more akin to a test drive than a \u201cfirst drive\u201d review that we would normally do during a manufacturer drive event. But, for me, this was my first time driving any of the Chinese EVs that we don\u2019t already have access to here in the US (i.e. the Chinese-owned Western brands).<\/p>\n There were a few similarities which struck out between the cars: some had off-throttle regen, but it was light, and none had true one-pedal driving (\u2026or, at least, I couldn\u2019t find out how to activate it since the UIs were in Chinese, and my translator couldn\u2019t find it either). None had ADAS that I could test, because they\u2019re built for China, and thus couldn\u2019t activate any sort of driver assistance systems on American roads. All had extensive use of LCD screens (again, mostly in Chinese), and had available AI-powered voice assistants (a very popular feature in China) which we also didn\u2019t get a chance to test.<\/p>\n So, here\u2019s some quick thoughts on the four cars I drove: the BYD Yangwang U8, MG Cyberster, Bestune Pony, and Chery iCar 03.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/heroallcarsdcaradastest.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1024\")
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