From the Great Wall to the great wheels

Change is happening. Or, to be more specific, China is happening. Not only in the Philippines, but all over the world. What we’ve been saying in jest before, we now say with utter seriousness: Everything is now made in China, from the phone in your hand to the car that you drive.

And it’s not just a feeling, or an opinion. Last year, the Bank of the Philippine Islands, one of the country’s biggest banks—revealed that 16 percent of its auto loan releases to its clients in 2023 went to financing Chinese brands, signifying both the bank’s and the loan applicants’ increasing trust in such brands. The increased trust is now echoed globally. Being the world’s second biggest economy, after all, has its tangible advantages, among them having the resources and brain power to invest heavily in automotive research and development for years.

There’s virtually no stopping China in the global auto market. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced last Jan. 13 that China produced and sold 31.282 million and 31.436 million vehicles in 2024, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 3.7 percent and 4.5 percent. The export volume was 5.859 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 19.3 percent.

According to Dong Yi Chen’s report in Car News China, “Breaking it down further, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 12.888 million and 12.866 million units, respectively, an increase of 34.4 percent and 35.5 percent year-on-year, ranking first in the world for 10 consecutive years. Specifically, the sales of brand-new NEVs accounted for 40.9 percent of the total sales of new vehicles, an increase of 9.3 percentage points from 2023. BEV sales accounted for 60 percent of NEVs, down 10.4 percentage points from last year; PHEV sales accounted for 40 percent of NEVs, up 10.4 percentage points from last year.”

As of the latest count, here in the Philippines, there are now over 20 new Chinese auto brands, and they’re selling features-laden vehicles at competitive prices.

But should we really be surprised? From what I’ve been observing since the 1990s, Chinese auto brands had been testing overseas waters, while global auto brands were doing the same in China. Jonathan Mantle, author of “Car Wars,” recalled that in the autumn of 1994, Alex Trotman of Ford was seen in Beijing outlining Ford’s car and component production plans for China for the coming five years. Mantle added that Trotman was followed soon afterwards by Jack Smith of General Motors.

That same year, the Chinese government called upon 18 major car manufacturers to attend the Beijing Family Car Congress. The aim was to determine the way ahead for a country that was seen as a gold mine for global automobile production, with potential sales of millions of cars a year.

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If you look at things in a bigger historical perspective, it was, indeed, China’s turn at the “wheel” by the new millennium. Car historian Paolo Tumminelli, author of “Car Design Asia,” observed that the East Asian region has had a habit of waiting for 20 years for a new automotive power to take over. In the 1960s, it was Japan. In the ‘80s, it was South Korea. By 2000, it was China’s era. By 2012, China ranked first, Japan second, and South Korea fourth, among the world’s largest manufacturing countries.

China, today, has quite literally shown the world why they deserve to be called the new kings of the road. The country now has more than 160,000 km of expressways and 416,000 km of highways, with enough cars—many of them electric with more to come—to fill Beijing’s seven ring roads at all times of the day.

Step aside, Great Wall of China. The new wonder of the world is the “Great Wheels” of China.