Chinese EVs Feel Inevitable: Should American Buyers Be Excited?

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For about the last decade, the next big "thing" on the horizon has been electric cars. The technology finally got good enough in the latter part of the 2010s to make them palatable to consumers in the States, and since then, news cycles have largely been dominated by the approach of new EVs. That has changed somewhat in the last year, but only in the US.

Elsewhere, automakers and shoppers alike have continued to buy into EVs, and Chinese automakers like Geely continue to be at the forefront of that discussion. Having recently broken into the global market in places like Europe, Geely is now set on expanding to North America. Even as I write this, the brand is beginning to sell cars in Canada, and has been selling cars in Mexico for some time. American expansion feels almost inevitable, and the topic is discussed openly by Geely employees. The question is: should American buyers care?

Before that can even be answered, cars will need to be sold in America. That might feel like a very long path, but one Geely employee told me very confidently that the brand could be selling cars in the States in just three years.

Geely-owned Lynk & Co EVs at the Paris Motor ShowChase Bierenkoven

There are some huge asterisks to that remark. First, this didn't come from Geely higher-ups in any official capacity. Second, those three years contain what could be a huge upset in American politics. With midterm elections just weeks away and a Presidential election in two more years, our political landscape could look very different by the time those three years roll on by.

However, protectionist trade policy is about as bipartisan as things get in American politics right now. Both President Biden and President Trump only begrudgingly allow outside automotive influence here in the US, usually with the requirement that some local palms be greased with factories, production facilities, and the like, before any new automobile can be sold here. The automakers that have managed to cross our shores have largely done so through billions of dollars of investment and decades of patient politicking. Geely seems to think it can bust right on through that and buck the trend.

We've already gotten a sneak peek at what some Chinese brands could look like in the US. Like Volkswagen, Geely is a conglomerate of brands, with each fulfilling a different mission. Polestar, a Geely brand, focused on luxury and performance. It was shut down earlier this year over noncompliance with the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security.

When Polestar did sell cars here, the problem was its cars. The often expensive Polestars were too European for American buyers, focusing on minimalist aesthetics and performance over the usual draws for American EV buyers: range, luxury, and value. The Polestar 2 was a fine little sedan, but cheaper crossover options like the Ioniq 5 sold better because they had a better angle on the American consumer. I doubt this is a mistake that gets made twice.

Other Geely brands do focus on the same, like Zeekr and Lynk & Co. But Geely's eponymous "home" brand is the entry point, serving up the kinds of affordable vehicles Americans are usually hungry for. I drove the brand's Starray PHEV, and it's exactly the kind of car I could see doing well here.

The compact SUV has a boxy, if somewhat bland shape. It'll fit your stuff and your kids, and you don't have to fully make the jump to a fully electric vehicle. With a four-cylinder under the hood and about 200 horsepower, it's the kind of affordable volume model that could propel a brand to success, supposing it isn't tariffed into oblivion.

So should Americans care about Chinese cars? It's early, but if Chinese brands can come to the US and compete on price, even budget automakers like Toyota and Hyundai could see some serious competition soon.

This story was originally published by Autoblog on Oct 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the Electric section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.