A number of people I know have bought new cars recently, with the conversion of drivers to electric vehicles beginning to gather pace as the quality of the product improves by the week and EV charging infrastructure, which put off many would-be purchasers initially, takes shape. So, if you buy a new EV, where will it have been manufactured? Interestingly, the answer to that question increasingly seems to be China.

At first, the ‘top end’ of the EV market was dominated by Tesla, but Chinese manufacturer BYD has already overtaken Tesla as the largest manufacturer of EVs worldwide. They are now readily available in this country and at a heavily discounted price compared with the Tesla equivalent. Expect to see more of them on our roads as the weeks go by.

UK car industry seems to be in rapid decline

A year ago, very few people had heard of BYD, but there are other Chinese car makers, whose brands may become more familiar than the likes of Ford or VW if we’re not careful. So what’s to be done to slow the Chinese domination? Well, a UK (or if not UK, then European) manufacturer churning them off the production line would help.

But the UK car industry seems to be in rapid decline. Vauxhall closed its Luton factory earlier this year, after 120 years of manufacture at the plant. Closer to home, many of us will remember Honda’s Swindon factory closing in 2021 and Mitsubishi moving out of Cirencester not long after.

New car and van sales at their lowest for over 70 years

It’s not getting any easier for British manufacturers, who are facing increasing wage demands and having to cope with the higher costs of employers’ National Insurance and utility bills. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders report new car and van sales for the first half of 2025 being at their lowest level for over 70 years. That’s not exactly heading in the right direction, is it?

We need investment in state-of-the-art facilities, operating at maximum efficiency to meet the Chinese before it’s too late... and then we find out the conspiracy theories about malware and viruses spreading from all those Chinese imports are actually true!