I understand we need to wait and see about pricing and warranties and the availability of service centres here in Canada, not to mention better understanding of quality issues and of course environmental and human rights issues, but…
Which potential Chinese cars interest you the most to drive here in Canada? Personally I’m tired of soulless cookie-cutter SUV/CUVs and am far more interested in the 4 door coupes and smaller city-cars. Think downtown Montreal cars with personality rather than suburban Alberta parking lots in places like Sherwood Park outside big-box stores.
I really want a pickup with a shortish range. I don’t need 800km, I need about 250 at the absolute max, and most days less than 100. But it has to be 4WD and have a box big enough to hold farm equipment and mucky things like newborn calves.
The Slate would be perfect if it were 4WD. I need absolutely nothing in the way of creature comforts except a heater and AC. I can’t stand listening to a radio so a BT speaker would do me fine.
The ones they assemble here.
Bingo
None until there’s a solid and extensively proven track record of reliable and non-exploding batteries from Chinese makers.
Edit: video explaining concern for reference
Where do you think the batteries come ft now?
You’d be surprised in the difference in quality
The ones that come attached to other cars and go to pre-planned destinations on a regular schedule are the preferred ones for me. Give us trains!
As much as I like driving, I agree 100% that I’d prefer taking away a lane for public transit priority, or requiring all new highway development include space for potential train lines.
Agreed! One of the few things I miss about Calgary is the LRT.
That’s what I miss about Edmonton too. If I had to go back to Alberta for whatever reason it would definitely be to Edmonton because at least they have a decent transit system.
The ones that are built or assembled in Canada that have guarantees that all software updates and telemetry data will remain on Canadian servers.
None of them until there’s infrastructure in place for domestic repair and parts replacement, also at a reasonable cost.
South Korea managed it; China should be able to as well.
(Yeah, I know you put it in the disclaimer, but I’m not even willing to consider the vehicles until there’s local support in place).
That is more than reasonable! Hopefully BYD etc… will learn from their mistakes in Australia - and provide better after-sales-service here in Canada. The article says they’ve sold 85,000 vehicles in Australia, so Canada won’t be that big a market in the first few years though.
After trying temu as an amazon replace me for cheap cords etc, maybe none? I’ve literally returned more than 3/4 of what I’ve got from them and now I’m back to suspicious of very low price Chinese merch.
As my street doesn’t get plowed in the winter and turns into deep ruts when the ice melts and refreezes (Saskatoon), I want something with big enough wheels to climb out of said ruts. I would also like a sodium ion battery as those are proving to perform better in very cold temperatures.
Otherwise, the Malaysian Ora Good Cat in pistachio green is too stylish to pass up. https://www.gwm.com.my/en/models/ora-good-cat
The ones that are not built by coerced labour.
Edit for an addition as I have just noticed: Last week, the linked article’s author Daniel Murphy won the 2025 Hinrich Foundation Award for Distinguished Reporting on Trade for its series on China’s hidden forced labor and its impact on the global supply chain.
That is an excellent link, something we all need to consider with any major purchase. Not to excuse Chinese manufacturers, but interesting to consider what goes into our ‘European’ or ‘North American’ cars, too:
At least 30 major car manufacturers are potentially implicated – including heavyweights in electric vehicles like Tesla and BYD. Even supply chains for quintessentially European brands are tainted. From touchscreens to engines, car parts made by coerced workers in Hubei, Shandong and other manufacturing hubs across China have ended up in some of the world’s most famous car brands: Mercedes, BMW, Volvo and Citroen.
This is why we need transparent supply chains. The Chinese government is opposing such transparency heavily. Chinese companies employ migrant workers in their factories abroad and have fully integrated supply chains, which means no local Canadian companies and workers will benefit.
China is notably among the countries with practically non-existent workers’ rights. Independent labor unions are illegal in the country as the government only endorses one union, the so-called All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). All other unions fall under the ACFTU’s hierarchical control.
The government also frequently cracks down on labour activists. Legally, workers are guaranteed a 40-hour week with overtime pay, a minimum wage and social security benefits. But enforcement is down to the local governments that more often than not fails to protect workers. In addition, an “informal" economy leads to many migrant workers working without formal contracts. They are not officially employed anywhere, moving to and from companies to work during peak production seasons.
And these are only a very few examples what’s wrong in China’s social system. Critics often call for more workers’ right in Canada and other Western states, which is, of course, perfectly right. I’d fully support that. But everyone who portrays China as a better solution has no clue about the Chinese economy. It’s far worse than anyone in the West can imagine.
The top of my list is the 2026 BYD Seal - AWD version which looks the most interesting to me: https://wholemap.com/cars/video/byd-seal-2026-compared-to-teslas-model3
