Experts test drive a Chinese car and say US automakers should worry

Reese Counts loves to drive cars and as the senior vehicle test editor at Edmunds, he said he has driven everything from new "supercars" to vintage vehicles.

So imagine his excitement late last month when he got to be one of the first vehicle experts in the country to test drive the Chinese manufacturer Geely's Galaxy M9, a three-row plug-in hybrid.

The car is not sold in the United States, but many experts, Counts included, expect Chinese automakers' vehicles will be here in the next few years.

Counts said he and the Edmunds team spent about three weeks with the Galaxy M9, both on the test track and on real roads, and his conclusion on its performance and quality is one that Detroit automakers should heed.

"It wouldn’t be something I’d recommend because it’s a good value — I'd recommend it because it’s a good vehicle regardless of price and I think that’s what other automakers have to pay attention to," Counts told the Detroit Free Press. "The manufacturing is there. The Chinese know how to build a car and they know how to build a good car. If the U.S. can’t compete on build, quality and price, they need to pay attention because if something like this comes here, it will be very compelling to U.S. drivers."

Edmunds Editor in Chief Alistair Weaver agreed calling the Geely Galaxy M9 "a wake-up call" for the automotive industry.

“This is not a car that impresses on price alone," Weaver said in a statement. "If it went on sale in the U.S., our tests show it has the depth of quality to compete effectively with the best three-row family SUVs. U.S. car shoppers really are missing out.”

The Chinese are coming

Car shopping website Edmunds.com is the first automotive testing authority in the United States to test the Geely Galaxy M9, which is primarily sold in China. The vehicle typically sells for about $26,000 to $36,000 U.S. dollars and the one Counts drove, fully loaded, was closer to the upper end of that range.

"They are building good products at affordable prices — it’s not building good products that are expensive — they seem to have both sides down and that should be concerning to anyone selling cars in the United States," Counts said.

Reese Counts, senior vehicle test editor at Edmunds.

Chinese automakers have long eyed the U.S. market because China is saturated, so the companies must export to grow profits. There's just one problem: There is a 100% tariff on Chinese automakers' EVs enacted by former President Joe Biden, which President Donald Trump has left intact.

But earlier this year, Canada struck the deal with China to slash its tariff on Chinese EVs from 100% to 6.1%. In return, China agreed to reduce the duties it charged on Canadian canola seed from 85% to 15%. The deal is not a free-for-all to flood Canada with Chinese EVs. The terms call for a 49,000 vehicle cap each year on Chinese EV imports and half of that quota is earmarked for cars priced under $35,000 Canadian dollars, or $25,000 U.S. dollars. But the deal allows that quota to grow to 70,000 within five years.

Chinese automakers have sold their cars in Mexico for years. In 2020, Chinese EVs made up just 1% of auto sales in Mexico, but as the Detroit Free Press reported in January, Chinese EVs comprise 20% of total new vehicle sales south of the border so far this year. According to AlixPartners, Chinese car brands are expected to comprise 30% of the global new vehicle market by 2030.

The Edmunds Test Team works to test a 2026 Geely Galaxy M9.

And, most industry analysts say it's only a matter of time before Chinese cars are sold in the United States. On Jan. 5, a spokesperson for China's Geely Group, which owns Volvo and Polestar, said in a story by Autoline Network: "The big question for us is when and where will we go to the USA. I think we'll have an announcement on that in the next 24 to 36 months."

Counts agreed with that statement, noting that Volvo already has a factory in Ridgeville, South Carolina, where it builds the fully electric EX90 SUV and the Polestar 3 and plans to add production of the XC60 this year.

"Geely is already invested in the U.S. through Volvo and Polestar. … I think that gives Geely a little bit of a leg up," over other Chinese auto companies, Counts said.

He said he wouldn’t be surprised if a Chinese automaker starts selling cars in the United States in the next 18 to 24 months.

Geely Galaxy M9: 'I was very impressed'

Counts said Edmunds tested the Geely Galaxy M9 in the Los Angeles area. A third-party company loaned the car to Edmunds in March, so Edmunds did not get it directly from Geely. Typically, Edmunds borrows a test vehicle from the manufacturer or purchases some of the cars it tests, he said.

The Edmunds Test Team works to test a 2026 Geely Galaxy M9.

The Edmunds team of about five people besides Counts put the car through its standard rigorous tests. They took it on a 600-mile drive along a route from Los Angeles to Orange County then to Ventura County. The team also has a track where they perform such tests as: 0 to 60 mph, a quarter-mile acceleration test, panic braking of 60 to 0, a handling test on a skid pad, as well as sound testing at idle, full acceleration and freeway speeds using a decibel meter.

“I went in with pretty open expectations because I try to judge every car for their own merit," Counts said. "I didn’t go in expecting it to be cut-rate or mind-blowing either. But I have to say, from the start to the finish of my time in the car, I was very impressed."

On the road test, the car got 100 miles on electric charge alone before shifting to the gasoline engine, which Counts said gave it another 500 miles of range. He said the fit and finish were high quality and made it comfortable and quiet. The second and third row of seats fold down, allowing for plenty of storage.

The interior of a 2026 Geely Galaxy M9.

"There’s no obvious area that I thought Geely was cutting corners to save costs," Counts said. "The screens and technology was pretty impressive. The screen was large, which is a personal preference thing, but the resolution was great. They changed everything to English, so for the most part we could navigate everything in the car, there were some things still in Chinese. But it was as responsive as my iPhone."

'A little different personality'

Counts said he would recommend Geely tweak the ride to make it a bit more stiff and sporty for U.S. roads and drivers' tastes noting it "is a little bit soft and floaty."

“It doesn’t feel like an American SUV, it feels more like Kia or Honda or other Asian manufacturers," Counts said. "But it’s not so quirky or unusual that it feels totally foreign. But it has a little different personality.”

The interior of a 2026 Geely Galaxy M9.

Here are some details about the Geely Galaxy M9 vehicle Edmunds editors tested:

• It had a 1.5-liter turbo-charged inline 4-cyclinder engine.
• It used a 41-kilowatt-hour battery pack
• Its engine generated 858 horsepower, Counts noted: "It's quite quick."
• Its engine generated 859 pound-feet of torque.
• It uses a three-speed automatic transmission and has all-wheel drive.
• It went from 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, which is “very quick," Counts said
• It did a quarter mile in 12.9 seconds at 98.6 mph.
• 60-to-0 braking in 110 feet, identical to the BMW X5 M. which starts at $131,000.
• It measured 32.5 decibels at idle, quieter than a Rolls-Royce Spectre.

Selling in the U.S. for China's price tag

Other big Chinese automakers besides Geely include BYD, Chery, SAIC Motor and Great Wall to list a few.

Counts said if Geely could sell the Galaxy M9 in the United States tomorrow, he believes it would be successful because there are very few three-row SUVs available for a price range of $25,000 to $35,000.

"There’s nobody selling a $35,000 car in the U.S. that can touch the Geely when it comes to fit and finish and space and comfort. It’s quite a nice three-row SUV," Counts said. "I wouldn’t call it a luxury vehicle, but it feels premium on the same level as well-equipped models from Honda and Kia … so if in some world they could sell it here for the same price they sell it as in China, I would have a hard time not recommending it to people.”

The only other three-row SUVs sold here at the $35,000 range would be a Kia Sorento or Honda Santa Fe, but those would be base trims, he said, noting the Geely Galaxy M9 was fully loaded for that price.

The problem would be keeping the Chinese vehicle at a similar low price once in the States. That's because given the tariffs, the vehicle would have to be built here, and labor is more expensive in the United States than in other countries, Counts said. Also, if the parts are Chinese-made, the tariffs would apply to those parts, too, even if the car is built stateside.

So the future will depend on overcoming tariffs — or a Chinese carmaker finding other ways to get vehicles on dealership lots in the United States for prices close to those sold in China, Counts said.

Still, he added, "it was cool to finally get behind the wheel of a car made by a Chinese automaker. It feels totally ready to be sold here today.”

Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA TODAY Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Experts test drive a Chinese car and say U.S. automakers should worry