Despite all the global worry about China building car factories around the world and stifling local competitors, it turns out that Chinese EV companies have actually been homebodies.
Between 2020 and 2024, China’s biggest EV and battery manufacturers BYDiBYDBYD Auto is a Chinese carmaker that became the world’s leading EV manufacturer in 2023, competing with Tesla for market share and global attention.READ MORE and CATL were talking a big game about global expansion. But data shows that, so far, when it comes to writing checks, they have built at home and shipped cars and batteries abroad.
China’s completed foreign direct investment in EV and battery manufacturing is a small fraction of its exports, data from New York-based independent research firm Rhodium Group shows.
At a time when U.S. automotive giants like Ford and General Motors have reined in their EV ambitions, China continues to set the global standard. But Washington’s 100% tariffs on China-made EVs, along with the software ban, make the vehicles expensive and inaccessible in the U.S. Industry watchers predict it’s likely only a few years until Chinese EVs make it to U.S. soil — likely via joint ventures — but setting up a manufacturing facility is a behemoth task. Exports are still the simplest and fastest way to get Chinese cars around the world.
