# Chinese EVs in North America **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 16, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757 "2026-01-16T20:52:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/41 "2026-01-19T11:23:09Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > These cars are widely sold in Europe, which has more stringent road/vehicle standards than the USA - eg the Tesla Truck is not legal on EU or UK roads due to not meeting safety/design standards - so I’m not sure why you would think these cars would not comply with US standards. Different, not necessarily more stringent. For example, the EU and UK permit multi-segment headlights which are prohibited in North America. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/42 "2026-01-19T12:29:01Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > If it hasn’t been crash tested (or emissions tested) for US road use it isn’t getting driven in. You would not be able to register it. They may actually seize the vehicle if you are not a Canadian owner. A Canadian owner _might_ be allowed to turn it around and go home Not according to the [US Customs and Border Protection](https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/importing-car). > **Nonresidents** may import a vehicle duty-free for personal use up to (1) one year if the vehicle is imported in conjunction with the owner’s arrival. Vehicles imported under this provision that do not conform to U.S. safety and emission standards must be exported within one year and may not be sold in the U.S. There is no exemption or extension of the export requirements. For US Citizens: > **U.S. citizens** employed abroad or government employees returning on TDY or voluntary leave may import a foreign-made car free of duty provided they enter the U.S. for a short visit, claim nonresident status, and export the vehicle when they leave. On the same page they say: > As a general rule, motor vehicles less than 25 years old must comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) in order to be imported **permanently** into the United States. My bolding. So, if the car doesn’t meet the standards, it can’t be permanently imported, but the statement that it can’t be driven in isn’t supported. According the the [Canadian government](https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/documents/travelling-abroad-with-vehicle): > Canadians who do not have a residence in the U.S may take a vehicle to the U.S., duty-free, for personal use for up to one year. If you are shipping your vehicle to the U.S., you should plan to arrive around the same time as your vehicle arrives. > > Vehicles that do not meet U.S. safety and emissions standards cannot be sold in the U.S. and must be removed from the U.S. within one year. The site explains that: > If you are travelling abroad with your own vehicle, you may need a [Carnet de passages en douane](https://www.carnetdepassage.org/) (CPD). > > The CPD is a customs document for bringing a vehicle to another country for a period of up to one year. With a CPD, you do not have to pay customs deposits because it guarantees that duties and import taxes will be paid if your vehicle is still in the country after your CPD expires. When I was working in importing products into Japan, we used carnets for trade shows in order to avoid paying import duties and other taxes. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/43 "2026-01-19T12:37:54Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > These cars are widely sold in Europe, which has more stringent road/vehicle standards than the USA - eg the Tesla Truck is not legal on EU or UK roads due to not meeting safety/design standards - so I’m not sure why you would think these cars would not comply with US standards. In addition to various small differences, one big difference is that US standards require airbags to protect a passenger who is not wearing a seatbelt whereas European standards assume all passengers are wearing seatbelts. (The link below is from 2014, but I think I heard a more recent story that repeated the same information.) [https://www.npr.org/2014/04/30/308220370/varying-auto-safety-standards-interfere-with-trade-negotiations](https://www.npr.org/2014/04/30/308220370/varying-auto-safety-standards-interfere-with-trade-negotiations) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/44 "2026-01-19T12:58:25Z")
I haven’t driven a car without airbags for about 20 years! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/45 "2026-01-19T14:28:21Z")
It’s not that cars designed for Americans have airbags while those designed for Europeans don’t (or vice versa) but that the airbags are designed _differently_, depending on whether they are expected to protect a belted or unbelted person. The NPR story linked to by @hogarth describes other differences in standards between the United States and Europe, such as that European standards put a greater emphasis on protecting a pedestrian who might be hit by the auto. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/46 "2026-01-19T16:51:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > European standards put a greater emphasis on protecting a pedestrian who might be hit by the auto AIUI, that’s the safety issue with the Cybertruck in Europe. The front (non)bumper is not pedestrian friendly, hard sharp edges and all. > [@Mangetout](#): > > I drove an Omoda 5 in Spain last year - it was impressive, but also bewildering. Despite the negative press about it (and the “someday” development process) the Tesla self-drive is one of the better versions available. They apparently use existing camera views from the existing cars to analyze and improve the programming; so with a wider variety of conditions in a wider variety of countries, not surprising they have the improvements and the better user interface. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/47 "2026-01-19T17:38:32Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > The front (non)bumper is not pedestrian friendly, hard sharp edges and all. They are rounded, not sharp. I’ve had the misfortune to be very close to one many times. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/48 "2026-01-19T18:23:19Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > The Israeli army was providing BYD cars to some senior officers for personal use, but switched to other brands, due to fear of espionage. Every car sends data home: Tesla to the USA (**[including sex tapes of people still having sex on the back seat in 2022](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/tesla-workers-shared-sensitive-images-recorded-by-customer-cars-rcna78502)**), Volkswagen to Wolfsburg (including emissions of their diesel cars - the real ones), BYD to China (don’t ask). That is one of the reasons rich tech savvy people like buying vintage cars. I would be even more worried about a possible kill switch. Imagine if some day in the future 10% of US cars are Chinese. What happens if the Chinese government forces their car manufacturers to switch them off in a crisis, perhaps when they are running faster than 30 mph, to make sure they are in the middle of the road, where they would block the other cars. John Deere did something similar with tractors and harvesting machines Russian soldiers stole in Ukraine. Technically it is trivial, but very hard to reverse. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/49 "2026-01-19T22:03:17Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Imagine if some day in the future 10% of US cars are Chinese. What happens if the Chinese government forces their car manufacturers to switch them off in a crisis, perhaps when they are running faster than 30 mph, to make sure they are in the middle of the road, where they would block the other cars. This is Canada’s concern with buying F-35 fighter jets, we’re completely at the mercy of a US kill switch. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/50 "2026-01-19T23:10:12Z")
I currently drive a Chinese EV in the United States, a 2022 Polestar 2. Argue all you want that it’s really Swedish, the engineering and programming for this car is Chinese (Geely) and it shows. The infotainment is laggy, there have been three separate recalls trying to address the failure of the reverse camera when the vehicle is reversing, and there are multiple other issues as well. My car did not come with the “Pilot" feature which allows adaptive cruise control, but from talking to others it suffers the same “not ready for prime time" issues described above with regard to braking, lane keeping, etc. ---
**Author:** ![andrewm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@andrewm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/51 "2026-01-20T23:45:32Z")
TBH that description doesn’t sound any worse than my engieered-in-Europe-and-built-in-the-USA VW ID.4. The infotainment is laggy, there’s a recall for the infotainment crashing and rendering the backup camera unusable - and also for the _entire instrument cluster_ crashing (leaving you with no speedometer, no battery level, only the P/D/B/N/R LEDs), buttons don’t work sometimes, there’s a recall for the touch-sensitive door handles possibly allowing the doors to open while driving if they get wet, the lane-keep stinks (it does a crappy job and doesn’t even ding when it loses track of the lines, just grays out an icon on the screen that may or may not be obscured by the steering wheel depending on how tall you are), etc. I could go on and on. VW also entirely forgot to secure the giant database that all their telematics reports back to, leaving things like precise location and VIN expose to the world. [Exposed VW Data for Over 800,000 Vehicles Revealed Locations, Owners](https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a63306050/exposed-vw-data-revealed-locations-names-of-over-800000-owners/) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/52 "2026-01-21T02:54:35Z")
The other question - not discussed - is how the 49,000 vehicle quota will be allocated. I repsume the Chinese government will have something to say about that… so whether our hypothetical US importer can get his hands on a cheap EV depends on whether the Chinese manufacturers start at the low end or go for the premium market like everyone else. One article suggested Tesla has a head start because they already made cars in Shanghai that met Canadian standards and were importing them for a while before the tariffs. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/53 "2026-01-21T03:31:52Z")
Of the 49,000, 50% are supposed to be under CAD$35k. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/54 "2026-01-21T04:46:11Z")
Tesla has been rumored to be coming out with a cheapie model for a while but best case it would take years to spin up. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/55 "2026-01-21T04:50:31Z")
That rumor’s been around for a long time. And they should have produced one a long time ago. So don’t hold your breath on it. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/56 "2026-01-21T18:55:15Z")
There have been sightings of the new “cybercab” or robotaxi testing with side mirrors and steering wheel, but presumably that was because for now vehicles a human can’t control are not allowed on the street in most places. Plus, there’s a limited market for a 2-seater. It would likely not take much to turn their robotaxi into a 4-seater with a tight back seat like the early Honda Civics. Basically, Elon seems to have lost interest in the car business, he’s moved on to Freudishly-big rockets and robots. But there’s a national quota, and there is likely to be a method to allocate that. I assume it won’t be up to the Canadian government, so that falls to the Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/57 "2026-01-22T07:31:11Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > The other question - not discussed - is how the 49,000 vehicle quota will be allocated. I repsume the Chinese government will have something to say about that… so whether our hypothetical US importer can get his hands on a cheap EV depends on whether the Chinese manufacturers start at the low end or go for the premium market like everyone else. Looking online, > What’s still unclear is how the Canadian government will divide the 49,000-vehicle quota among various automakers. Will Tesla and Geely flood the pipeline with Chinese-built EVs to grab as much of the allowance as they can? That remains to be seen. Also, the hypothetical US importer will run into the other problems outlined in the thread such as having to pay the tariffs themselves and ensuring it meets US standards. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/58 "2026-01-22T16:10:40Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > > [@md-2000](#): > > > > The front (non)bumper is not pedestrian friendly, hard sharp edges and all. > > They are rounded, not sharp. I’ve had the misfortune to be very close to one many times. The radius of the bent curve is smaller than the minimum required under European standards. I don’t have a reference handy, but discussed this with a friend who is a major Tesla fanboy about a year ago ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/59 "2026-01-22T21:58:06Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The radius of the bent curve is smaller than the minimum required under European standards. There is always a radius. The object of sharpening a knife is to make it as small as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757/60 "2026-01-22T22:08:40Z")
Except the goal is not to have a pedestrian meet a knife edge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-evs-in-north-america/1026757.md?page=4)