June 15, 1405, the 3rd Year of Yongle of the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Chengzu ordered Zheng He, a fourth-rank Director of the Palace Affairs, to lead a fleet of over 240 large ships with 27,400 crew members to set sail and visit more than 30 countries in the western Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Zheng He's fleet was loaded with export trade goods such as blue-and-white porcelain, silk, gold and silver ware, spices, and also ceremonial clothing, ritual vessels, and exquisite silk textiles bestowed by the Ming Emperor to governors of various countries.
This fleet commanded by Zheng Hethe largest fleet in the world at that timesailed to the Western Seas seven times, and its route was later called by historians the Maritime Silk Road.
Today, more than 600 years later, another much larger ship whistles and sets sail again.
But this time, there are no exquisite silks and ceramics on board,but rather, it is filled with automobiles, new energy vehicles.
The overseas journey of Chinese automakers began from here.
01. The Front Line Does Not Lie
A fact is, over the past 5 years, the strategy of many traditional brands globally has been two words,Retract.
The Mercedes-Benz passenger car factory in Brazil was shut down, Ford even no longer produces complete vehicles in Brazil, GM withdrew from Thailand manufacturing, Nissan closed the Barcelona factory in Spain... and there are many European factories where capacity utilization is even less than 10%.
Taking over areChinese automakers who have been expanding wildly overseas since 2023.
BYD is planning an industrial base in Bahia, Brazil; Chery is restarting the original Nissan Barcelona factory in Spain through Ebro; Great Wall has acquired the original Mercedes-Benz factory in Brazil and the original GM Rayong factory in Thailand; Leapmotor, Dongfeng and other brands are exploring localised production in Europe through Stellantis' existing system.
Some people call this phenomenonthe 2.0 era of going global:
Compared to the complete vehicle export of Era 1.0, Chinese automakers not only knocked open the doors of the world, but also began building new bases globally.
Looking globally, Thailand has become an important production base for brands such as BYD, Changan, GAC Aion, Great Wall, and is also the overseas bridgehead for Southeast Asia and Australia;
Brazil, thanks to cooperative projects with BYD, Great Wall, GAC, Geely/Renault, radiates to the South American auto market;
Turkey still plays the role of the Eurasian land bridge, helping Chinese automakers pry open the doors of the European market and the West Asian region...
In 2025,China's new energy vehicle exports reached 3.43 million units, a 70% surge year-on-year;pure electric vehicle exports reached 2.6 million units, with a market value of about $70 billion, a year-on-year increase of 43%.
Among them, imports from 66 countries exceeded $100 million, and the top three Belgium, UK, and UAE import values were $6.6 billion, $5.9 billion, $3.5 billion respectively—
In the shopping cart of imported goods,for every $3 million gathered, one Chinese electric vehicle must be paired.
Such crazy export growth obviously threatens the cheese of too many people.
The EU's anti-subsidy investigation and additional tariffs are lessons from the past.
Therefore,local factory building has become the only solution for Chinese automakers to go global.It can both avoid tariff risks, reduce logistics costs, further approach terminal users, and meet local policy requirements for employment and taxes,killing three birds with one stone.
According to incomplete statistics, this table of Chinese automaker acquisitions and new factory constructions is really long.
From the data perspective, in the 3-year period from 2022 to 2024, China's enterprises' overseas direct investment in the new energy vehicle value chain averaged $30.4 billion annually,surpassing domestic investment for the first time.
Battle reports may lie, but the front line will not. Agile capital will surely invest money into places with higher profits.
But as the saying goes,The gifts fate gives have long had a price marked in the dark.
02. Is Foreign Money Easy to Earn?
According to data from the China Passenger Car Association, in Q1 2026,the overall profit margin of the auto industry dropped to 3.2%,far below the downstream industry level of 6%, and cut in half compared to previous years.
Automakers exhausted by competition, either actively or passively,have turned their gaze to the overseas market where competition is not saturated.
But for Chinese automakers, building factories overseas, acquiring old factories, taking over idle capacity is not simply copying mature domestic models overseas, but entering a system with completely different laws, unions, supply chains, policies, and brand public opinion.
Among these, hidden dangers also exist.
Some time ago, the International Energy Agency IEA released the report "Global EV Outlook 2026". Among them, one data point is especially thought-provoking:
As of 2025, Chinese automakers' overseas annual capacity reached 1.7 million units, of which Thailand accounted for more than 30%, Indonesia more than 20%, the focus of layout is still in Southeast Asia.
But the question is, the capacity utilization in these two regionsis only 20% and 15%!
This means that Chinese automakers' overseas capacity expansion,faces the first risk: if sales cannot be supported, it will be overcapacity.Either factories idle, or price cuts for promotion.
The second risk point is that old factories bought at low prices may not be bargains, but historical baggage.
Many factories were unscrupulously abandoned by automakers, not necessarily because of weak sales, but possibly due to low production efficiency, old equipment, unsuitable vehicle platform, high production costs, etc.
Taking Russia as an example, after Nissan and Volkswagen withdrew, their old factories were managed by the Russian local enterprise Vaz (which is the Volga we know).
The Lada cars produced by the factory have old technology, and evenlack the high-voltage operating environment required for producing new energy vehicles.Even the employees are technical workers who have been working on fuel cars for their whole lives, completely unable to understand new energy vehicle platforms and fast-paced production.
If rebuilding the three-electric systems, software calibration, electronic electrical architecture, thermal management, and high-voltage safety systems required for producing new energy vehicles,the renovation cost is no different from building a brand new factory,production lines, quality systems, supply chains, personnel training... all need to be readjusted.
The third is union and compliance risks, which are seriously underestimated by many companies.
The high-intensity, high-response speed, and centralized management we are used to domestically,cannot be simply replicated overseas.Accustomed dormitory bunk beds will even attract investigations into labor contracts, accommodation, and working conditions.
Since the power of unions in many countries is extremely great, once they organize strikes,the impact on production will be incomparable,and may even affect future factory approvals, government subsidies, public opinion, investor relations, and brand image.
The fourth risk comes from the supply chain: complete vehicle localization is easy, core component localization is difficult.
The competitiveness of a new energy vehicle core is not in the final assembly factory, but in the whole set ofcost control capabilitiesfrom three-electric to thermal management, from electronic electrical architecture to software, from tires to windows.
Chinese automakers can quickly establish final assembly factories overseas.
But if key components are still imported from China,the problem arises—
Long logistics cycles, high inventory costs; exchange rate fluctuations affect costs; tariff ratios may be adjusted at any time; local after-sales spare parts supply pressure is high; if policy is very tight, key components such as batteries and chips will also undergo review.
Yes, just like European automakers encountered the "strangled by Chinese batteries" situation during electrification transformation.
The last risk is the risk of capacity utilization and market orientation.
As mentioned before, Southeast Asian market scale is small, purchasing power is poor. When can the cheap factory construction plan locally run full capacity?
And Europe with purchasing power has already urgently withdrawn the "2035 ban on fuel vehicle sales" bill,European automakers are about to return to fuel vehicles,even large displacement fuel vehicle production.
At that time, in the European market returning to traditional fuel vehicles, is there still a place for Chinese automakers?
These are all what Chinese automakers preparing to go global must consider.
03. All the Past is a Prologue
For any global enterprise, going overseas must surely bechallenges and opportunities coexisting.
Volkswagen that entered China 40 years ago, Tesla that entered China 10 years ago, BYD, GEELY, GWM... that have beenexpanding their operations globallyin recent years...
Fortunately, putting aside technical advantages, cost control capabilities, and complete component supply chains, Chinese automakers also have the most unique advantage:Users.
In the just passed April, BYD sold 12,754 pure electric vehicles in the UK, surpassing Teslato win the pure sales champion;Chery, thanks to its three-brand strategy, became the number two in sales across all categories without qualifiers,second only to Volkswagen.
In countries and regions where there are no tariff restrictions and automakers can compete fairly,Chinese cars with good quality and low price,are the best choice for users to "live a down-to-earth life".
More than 600 years ago, Zheng He led the fleet to sail to the Western Seas seven times, connecting the ocean, trade, and distance with the attitude of Eastern civilization;
More than 600 years later, today, Chinese automakers have officially launched their own"Age of Discovery".
From Europe to Southeast Asia, from South America to the Middle East, from complete vehicle export to overseas factory building, from acquiring old factories to restarting idle capacity, Chinese automobiles are sailing towards the depths of the new globalindustry system.
This long voyage marks the historical turn of China's automotive industry from a chaser to a participant, from a participant to a shaper.
Admittedly, Chinese automakers need to face more complex global markets, laws and regulations, labor relations, supply chain systems, and also need to build brand trust from scratch above the product.
But belonging to Chinese automakers' one piece,is just setting sail:
Those overseas factories that were re-lit, those production lines that roared again, those cross-border investments and cooperations, are both a proof of China's manufacturing strength and a milestone for Chinese automakersintegrating into the world, taking responsibility, and building industrial ecology together.
In the future, whether able to truly become an important builder of the global automotive industry depends on whether Chinese automakers can take root in different cultural backgrounds, win trust in different markets, and establish cooperation between continents.
All the past is merely a prologue.
New routes have opened up, true long voyage has just begun.
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