The cars you didn’t know were built in China

Some of Australia’s most well-known, top-selling and luxurious models are now made in China.

With close to 10 Chinese brands looking to establish a foothold in Australia over the next couple of years, it’s safe to assume Chinese cars are set to proliferate across our roads at a rapid rate.

According to new car sales data from July 2024, there have been more than 130,000 Chinese-built vehicles sold so far this year, aided by Chinese brands like GWM, Chery, MG and BYD setting up shop in Australia.

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This makes China the third-biggest source of new motor vehicles sold in Australia, trailing Thailand (where some of the best-selling utes in Australia are made) in second (163,756) and Japan in first place (227,011).

Putting the Australian market aside, China has evolved to become the world’s largest automobile manufacturer and exporter, surpassing the United States in 2009 and Japan in 2023, as previously reported by Drive.

However, it wasn’t a quick rise up the manufacturing ladder for the country.

Despite surpassing 10,000 total sales a year in Australia in 2012, the Asian nation drastically fell to 22nd in the rankings of Australia’s biggest vehicle suppliers, with just 2320 Chinese-made cars sold in 2015.

Although low sales generally lead to manufacturers inevitably pulling out of markets, where China succeeded is in building production and export relationships with established brands that helped turn the country into a global manufacturing powerhouse.

As a result, some of the best-selling models and even some top luxury cars sold in Australia are now manufactured in China.

To offer some insight as to which brands utilise China’s unparalleled levels of production, here’s a list of all the ‘Chinese cars’ with international heritage.

Disclaimer: For this list, Drive has not included Chinese brands and only focused on brands from other countries.

Tesla – Model 3 and Model Y

Though budget-friendly petrol hatchbacks, SUVs and utes were the focus of early Chinese brands, China’s aggressive expansion into the electric vehicle sector has contributed to the country’s rapid development in global manufacturing.

As of April 2024, approximately 80 per cent – or close to two in every five – electric cars sold in Australia were manufactured in China, largely spearheaded by Chinese-built Teslas bound for the domestic market, as previously reported by Drive.

According to the latest sales data, the Model 3 and Model Y – Tesla’s only offerings in Australia – are leading the sales race in their respective segments, accounting for 1239 and 1353 sales respectively.

The Elon Musk-led company became the first fully foreign-owned car manufacturer to set up shop in China back in 2018 – with the first batch of Chinese-built Teslas landing in Australia sometime in early 2021.

Since then, all incoming Tesla models bound for Australia are shipped from the US electric pioneer’s Gigafactory in Shanghai.

While various Tesla owners have self-reported manufacturing discrepancies between Chinese and US-built Teslas, some owners have argued that Chinese-built Teslas were of higher quality.

Volvo – C40, XC40, XC60, EX30 and S60

Swedish car maker Volvo started manufacturing in China in 2013 when it built its first plants in Chengdu and Daqing – with the production sites developed in partnership with its Chinese parent company Geely.

Volvo started to produce the XC60 and S60L at its Chengdu site before it took full ownership of its two Chinese factories in 2021 by purchasing and acquiring Geely’s 50 per cent stake.

Fast-forward three years later and most of the Australian-bound Volvos are designed at the brand’s headquarters in Sweden but built in China.

These models include the petrol-powered S60, XC40, and XC60 hybrid – as well as the recently launched electric EX30 SUV, C40 and XC40 Recharge.

Polestar – 2, 3 and 4

Unsurprisingly, Polestar – the electric sister brand of Volvo – also utilises China in its production of the Polestar 2, and incoming Polestar 3 and 4.

The EV car maker first moved production to China in 2017, when Volvo decided to manufacture the Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid coupe in its Chengdu plant, as previously reported by Drive.

The brand’s first model, the Polestar 2, arrived in Australia in early 2022, with Polestar reporting delivering 1450 examples in 2023 and a further 1041 units from January 2024 to July 2024.

Meanwhile, the Swedish electric car maker started Australian deliveries of its Polestar 3 SUV in June 2024, with prices kicking off from $131,574 before on-road costs.

Finally, the Polestar 4 will round out the local line-up when Australian deliveries commence towards the end of 2024, with pricing starting at $81,500 before on-road costs.

BMW – iX3

Despite most of its petrol and electric models coming out of its native Germany and the United States, BMW’s first venture into Chinese manufacturing came with its iX3 mid-sized electric SUV.

The German luxury auto giant first started production for the iX3 – the X3’s battery-powered twin – in September 2020 at its manufacturing facility located in Shenyang, China.

The electric SUV is the only BMW-badged model built in China and is built in partnership with regional manufacturing arm Brilliance Auto.

The base-spec BMW iX3 M Sport variant starts from $89,100 before on-road costs and has a maximum claimed range of 440km.

Charge times on the iX3 (to get from a claimed 10 to 80 per cent) vary, with an 11kW charger taking approximately seven hours and 28 minutes, while a 50kW charger will charge the electric SUV in an estimated one hour and 41 minutes.

Any ultra-fast chargers (150kW and above) can charge the iX3 in approximately 32 minutes.

Mini – Aceman and Cooper Electric

While the iX3 is BMW’s only model built in China, the German auto giant’s small car subsidiary brand Mini has closer ties to China.

Back in 2018, BMW Group announced a joint venture with Great Wall Motors (GWM) to establish a manufacturing arm in China specifically to build electric Mini models, dubbed Spotlight Automotive.

The partnership between the two manufacturers resulted in the creation of a new manufacturing plant in the city of Zhangjiagang, where the brand’s Cooper Electric and Aceman EVs are made, while the battery-powered Countryman is built at BMW Group’s facilities in Leipzig, Germany.

The base-level Cooper Electric ‘E’ variant starts from $53,990 and reaches the top-spec Cooper SE priced at $58,990 before on-road costs, while the entry-level Mini Aceman E is priced from $55,990 before on-road costs.

Despite current price fluctuations many EVs are currently facing, Mini intends to keep prices stable for its electric line-up.

“Lots of price fluctuation is not ideal for a customer. Playing with pricing can have big consequences with stuff like [customer satisfaction and resale value],” the head of product for Mini Australia and New Zealand, James Orlov, told Drive.

“That [pricing] stability is really important with this new generation of [Mini] cars. Electric cars are expensive to build, so there is, at the moment, a price premium over the petrol equivalent.

“But it was really important for us to make sure that the specification, what you get in the car, between an electric and petrol, is no different – they are all Minis, one just happens to be electric, one just happens to be petrol,” Orlov added.

Citroen – C5 X

Citroen might be bidding au revoir to Australia after a historic 101-year run in the country, but up until its exit, its best-selling C5 X SUV has been manufactured in Chengdu, China since 2021.

Despite Australia’s love affair with SUVs, the struggling French brand is ceasing operations in the country from 1 November 2024 amid poor sales and increasing competition from other brands.

For context, the French legacy manufacturer only sold 135 cars in 2023, with the Citroen C5 X considered the most popular car across its five-model line-up, as indicated by the 41 examples sold last year.

Citroen Australia General Manager David Owen said the decision to exit Australia “was not made lightly”.

“It was made after careful consideration of the current and future product available for our country, in the context of the local market and the preferences and requirements of Australian new vehicle buyers,” Owen said in a media statement.

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