American EV Buyers’ Awareness Of Chinese Brands Should Worry Detroit
More than half of U.S. drivers thinking about buying an EV were familiar with Chinese automaker names
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- More than half of would-be EV buyers in America already know about Chinese car brands.
- Young drivers aged between 18-25 are even more familiar with them.
- Seven out of 10 said they’d consider buying a Chinese EV if it cost 20 percent less than a Western car.
You can’t even buy a Chinese-brand car in America right now, but already the threat posed by Asian automakers is causing a headache for U.S. firms. And American buyers’ awareness of China’s EVs revealed in a new study is only going to amplify that stress.
The likes of GM and Ford are worried about Chinese brands trying to set up shop in Mexico to gain backdoor access to the North American market, but the Big Three could at least comfort themselves with the knowledge that it would take those Chinese brands an eternity to build any brand awareness.
Related: Mexico Ends Chinese Automaker Incentives After US Pressure
Well, that’s what they were probably hoping, but new research shows that American EV buyers already know about the Chinese brands Detroit wants to lock out. A significant 58 percent of buyers in the U.S. who were either very likely or moderately likely to buy an EV the next time they went car shopping were familiar with Chinese brands like BYD, Leapmotor and Nio, Auto News reports.
The figures come from the AlixPartners 2024 International Electric Vehicle Consumer-Sentiment Survey, which canvassed 9,000 drivers this March and April around the world, 2,000 of which were based in the U.S. It found that awareness of Chinese brands in the U.S. was even stronger among younger drivers in the 18-25 age bracket.
The data also revealed that 73 percent of American drivers would consider buying an Chinese-brand electric car if it was priced 20 percent lower than an EV from a non-Chinese automaker. And while that sounds like a big price drop – and would be unachievable for straight imports from China due to taxes – it’s entirely reasonable to imagine it would be possible on EVs built in Mexico and imported from there.
But AlixPartners says big up-front savings might not be enough to secure a sale, and that American buyers could still be hesitant to buy due to concerns about factors like reliability, service quality and brand image.
Chinese buyers had those same concerns in the past but have overcome them and now view Chinese-branded EVs as competitive with Western brands.
