Cars from big brands you probably didn’t know were built in China

While it comes as no surprise that the overwhelming majority of Chinese brands source their cars from China, you may not know that established brands are also bringing Chinese-built cars into the country.

The following is a list of cars you may not know as Chinese, despite being manufactured there.

Cupra is a Spanish brand, owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, but the electric Tavascan SUV arrives here from China.

A partnership between Volkswagen and JAC Motors is responsible for the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefai, where the Tavascan is built.

While South Korean company, Hyundai, sources most of its production from South Korea, Hyundai’s newest electric vehicle carries a Chinese passport stamp.

The Hyundai Elexio is a medium SUV, roughly the same size as a Tucson, built in Beijing at a joint-venture factory operated by Hyundai and China’s Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC).

Like Hyundai, Kia’s base of operations is South Korea, but the Kia EV5 became the first Kia model sourced from China for the Australian market.

The electric medium SUV is built in Yancheng, on China’s east coast, in a factory operated in a joint venture between Jiangsu Yueda.

While Jiangsu Yueda may not be a household name, the company also owns Human Horizons, the company that manufactures cars under the HiPhi brand for China.

British sports car manufacturer, Lotus, still builds its range of Emira sports coupes in the UK, but its electric vehicles are Chinese-built.

A state-of-the-art facility in Wuhan builds the Eletre SUV and Emeya sedan, not just for Australia, but for all markets globally.

Mazda turned to its Chinese joint-venture partner for more than just production capacity.

While the styling carries plenty of Mazda influence, the Mazda 6e is the product of Changan Mazda, with the electric platform and drivetrain shared with Changan’s Deepal SL03 and SL07 sedans.

The Mazda 6e factory is located in the city of Nanjing, Jiangsu.

The Mini Cooper hatchback range might look like a unified line-up, but petrol-powered versions come from the UK, while electric models are built in China.

The Mini Aceman electric compact SUV is also Chinese-built.

Through a joint venture with Great Wall Motors (GWM), called Spolight Automotive, the Aceman, Cooper E, SE and JCW E are manufactured in the port city of Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu.

Polestar likes to talk about its European design and engineering, but when it comes to production, its cars arrive in Australia with a ‘made in China’ label.

The production location is probably unsurprising, given that Polestar is majority Chinese-owned as part of the Geely group.

Tesla sources almost all of its current range from China.

All versions of the Model 3 sedan are Chinese built, while the Model Y is split, with the Premium RWD and Premium Long Range versions coming from China, while the Model Y Performance is built in Germany.

Tesla operates what it calls a Gigafactory in Shanghai, which started production in 2019. Tesla is also the only Western automaker able to operate in China without a joint-venture program with a domestic brand.

If the name of your Volvo model starts with an ‘E’ it comes from China, but Volvo doesn't stop there.

Volvo is currently majority-owned by Chinese car giant Geely, so it should come as no surprise that production takes place in China for its electric models.

The latest-generation XC40 and XC60 are also Chinese-built, and in the case of the XC60 that means both petrol and plug-in hybrid versions.

The Volvo ES90 sedan, EX30 compact SUV, EX40 small SUV, and EX90 large SUV are all built in China for Australia, but the Volvo XC90 seven-seat petrol and PHEV SUV comes from Sweden.

Electric Cars Guide

Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.

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