Omar Rana’s first Chinese car was an SUV that he had rented on his trip to the United States in 2015. It would be a misstatement to say that it left a lasting impression.
“It sucked really bad,” Rana is also known as OmarDrives. “A horrible experience.”
Rana was invited to Los Angeles by DCar Studio, a Chinese EV company he had never heard of. Rana’s contact with DCar was no surprise. Over the years, Rana has built up a modest but respectable audience with his 90,000. He also has over 288,000 followers on Instagram. It was his first opportunity to review a Chinese vehicle. He was concerned about his previous experience and not wasting time.
“I didn’t think it was legit at first,” He remembers. “The emails had bad English. I’m like, ‘This is spam.'”
“The emails had bad English. I’m like, ‘This is spam.'”
Rana’s hesitation quickly disappeared when he realized that there would be other LA car influencers receiving similar invitations. The auto industry in China has grown tremendously since Rana’s first encounter with a Chinese car. There are now over 150 different brands that compete with each other to impress customers. Rana, a designer of cars, was thrilled.
Take a look at the following: Geely’s Galaxy E5Rana lists as an example a $20k compact SUV with features such as heated, massaging, and ventilated seating, digital display clusters, reclining seat passenger, 360° camera, and heads-up displays. Nothing in North America comes close to that level of price. In China, while EVs struggle to be accepted by the mainstream in America, they are now expected. In China, internal combustion engines vehicles are seen as more novelties rather than viable choices.
“It was really cool to see how far they’ve come in just five years,” Rana says. “It’s a world of difference.”
Rana eventually published a Galaxy E5 video, originally called “Five Reasons Elon Would Be Pissed If This Car Came to the U.S.”
China has seen a massive increase in EVs over the past 10 years. Just a few decades ago, China was a middle-sized player in the auto industry. Now it is the largest market for autos in the world. It also exports the most EVs. More than half China is on track to eliminate gas-powered vehicles in the near future.
But this is mostly invisible to Americans, surrounded as we are by Japanese, German, Korean, and, yes, American-made vehicles — but none from China. The steep tariffs on cars that have software made in China and the laws prohibiting the sale of such vehicles make it virtually impossible for Chinese-made vehicles to be sold in the US. You’ll only see familiar names like Geely owned Volvo.
That makes Chinese cars enigmatic, feature-rich, and ripe for discovery, while also maintaining a whiff of the forbidden — the perfect ingredients for YouTube content. Rana says that Chinese automakers are preternaturally good at creating features for user convenience. For example, they can design screens with gesture controls to help kids, who lose their remotes a lot.
Enigmatic, feature-rich, and ripe for discovery, while also maintaining a whiff of the forbidden — the perfect ingredients for YouTube content
“The fact that they’re able to pack all these cars with such advanced technology at such a low price point and still be, like, making money,” He says.
In particular, EVs are built primarily for social media. These EVs have bold specs, low sticker prices and many camera-friendly tricks. Doug DeMuro is one of YouTube’s most well-known car reviewers. He says that Chinese EVs have the quirks and features to match.
Marques brownlee showcased the Li Auto Mega in his Auto Focus YouTube channel last year. This video is titled “The Best EV You Can’t Buy,” The video has been viewed 1.6 million times, which makes it the most popular on his channel. Brownlee, a man who refused to be interviewed by this article, called Mega “sick” The following are some examples of how to use “the most features, the most tech I’ve ever seen or experienced in an EV.”
You’ll see similar reactions if you click on any car YouTuber. “I know why Chinese cars aren’t sold in America,” Forrest Jones says in his video about the Yangwang U8 TikTok has 3.3 Million views. “Because they would dominate.”
The comments sections are full of people complaining that the EVs they’re raving about can’t be bought in the US. Gen Zers are confused as to why they cannot buy an EV. $10,000 BYD Seagull. Does the US have a reputation as a backwater country? They wonder. What is China’s future?
Mark Greeven (Professor of Management Innovation and Dean of Asia, IMD Business School) says that Chinese automakers may be interested in putting US content producers behind the wheel to promote their EVs. Chinese automakers are not able to compete in the US but can certainly do so in other countries. They have been grabbing market shares in Europe, South America” Africa. The US remains the most influential tastemaker.
“The charm offensive is to work with American influencers about Chinese EV cars because we still have a dominant opinion in the Western world, which is formed by English-speaking influential figures on social media,” Greeven told me. “It makes sense for them to talk about Chinese cars.”
“The charm offensive is to work with American influencers about Chinese EV cars because we still have a dominant opinion in the Western world”
The Chinese leader focuses on the popular Internet celebrity IShowSpeed who recently toured China. This was seen by many as an important soft power success for China. IShowSpeed (real name Darren Watkins Jr.), who boasts 60 million fans across multiple platforms, toured China for two weeks and posted numerous videos. While on the tour he bought a $250,000 BYD Yangwang U9 electric supercar. IShowSpeed showed off the U9, which can jump several inches with the push of a button. It’s not clear whether or not he actually imported the supercar into the United States.
The strategy is at work here and whether Chinese EVs can be sold in America or not doesn’t make much difference.
“I think this is part of [Chinese] companies trying to become more global,” Greeven says, “whether or not that’s for the American market specifically or to have an overall presence in the social media landscape, which in the Western world is still very much dominated by American influencers and English-speaking social media.”
In China, livestreaming is a big deal. Local brands often work with influencers and streamers in their area, blurring the lines between sales representatives and social media stars. Greeven says that many of these creators are also employed by companies such as Xiaomi and BYD. They sell products in their stores while simultaneously livestreaming, Greeven explained. Chinese influencers, on the other hand, don’t appear to care about authenticity or independence when it comes to connecting with their audiences.
“These people are employees,” Greeven says. “They’re not social influencers, they’re just employees who build up their following in the online and offline world as sales associates.”
These content creators are often also employed by companies such as Xiaomi and BYD. They sell products in their stores while simultaneously livestreaming.
Greeven says that next up are the big influencers. They don’t typically trade videos for cash because they fear losing their audiences. Brands are expected to provide positive content. Likewise, Chinese content creators are often paid much more than their American counterparts — sometimes as much as $150,000 for a single vertical video — whereas in the US, creators typically earn far less.
To reach out to new consumers, Chinese automakers have turned to US-based content producers. They’re also willing to pay.
Rana claims that the majority of invitations from Chinese automakers to test drive new EVs come not from PR firms or individual brands, but rather trade groups. These reviews are not paid for, and he does not accept any compensation. It’s true that not everyone is affected by this. Rana has heard rumors about influencers receiving undisclosed payment to endorse Chinese EVs.
This is also confirmed by other creators. DeMuro the YouTube quirks and features guy, with over 5 million subscribers, only has a small number of Chinese EVs reviewed on his channel. Fangchengbao Leopard 5, the Xiaomi SU7The. MG Cyberster. He acknowledges the pay-for play, even though he does not receive compensation. “Some creators may be getting paid under the table,” DeMuro tells me, “but I don’t take money from automakers in any form. Many of my colleagues do, and I can’t speak for them.”
All the creators that I talked to insisted on never accepting any money from any Chinese company without first reporting it. They all cite unethical pay-for-play as the reason that Chinese cars have suddenly become so popular on social media.
It could be that, but it’s also possible that they are just weird enough and unique enough to spread organically without any one putting their finger on the scale. “I think the appeal of covering Chinese-market vehicles is that we aren’t offered these vehicles in the US,” DeMuro says, “which makes audiences interested in how they operate and how they differ from American-market vehicles.”
Some creators are concerned that the rise of pay-for play will lead to a decline in independent online auto journalism. Roman Mica is a former journalist who started the channel. TFL Studios Facebook and Instagram are not transparent or accountable about sponsorships. Many creators do not disclose their paid partnerships, despite regulations that require them to. It allows automakers to control narratives and reach large audiences, while also controlling the way their products are depicted.
“We’re getting paid the traditional way, which is YouTube,” Mica said. “We don’t take money from car manufacturers, but YouTube advertises cars. And then when somebody watches a video, there’s an ad next to it, and we make money if we get enough views on the thing. But these guys are getting checks from the car manufacturers, and that’s a hard pill to swallow.”
Roman Mica’s son Tommy Mica is also the co-founder of TFL and warns about a rapid erosion in editorial independence across all digital automotive media.
“Especially as the short-form stuff becomes more and more popular, it’s becoming really, really hard to compete on that scale,” Tommy Mica says, “because we’re finding the manufacturers also give earlier access to these creators that are able to be paid and are able to have their content controlled.”
Rana connected me with DCar Studio. This group is at the heart of the explosion of Chinese content created by US creators. There were so many questions I wanted to ask about how Chinese carmakers view their cars in the US. The group’s website This is a hybrid of YouTube, CarMax and other car-shopping sites. There are dozens of videos that overlap and drop down menus.
Hanyang Xie is a DCar content creator manager who goes by Ben. Hanyang appeared to be eager to chat and share information on how DCar works. However, after several days of exchanging emails I began to doubt that Hanyang would follow through.
“So sorry for not getting back to you sooner, it completely slipped my mind. Been filming with creators all day,” Hanyang wrote. “Yes! What do you want to know about our company? I would love to answer your questions and help with your story.”
ByteDance’s TikTok subsidiary, ByteDance owned the car-trading platform Dongchedi. Dongchedi is expected to raise $600m in 2024 based on its $3b valuation. according to Bloomberg. There are tens and tens millions of WeChat users. This appears to be its goal. an independent e-commerce platformBoth China and abroad. Chinese automakers need to sell too many vehicles, which has led to a shortage of cars. an out-of-control price warDongchedi might be able relieve some of the burden.
DCar had already revealed a few details to me.
This makes perfect sense. It is the same platform that will publish the content on the EVs.
The company seemed to be taking its time answering my questions. It is true that the company was not in a hurry to answer my questions. The Verge DCar probably works with different outlets and creatives than most. We do not accept any money from companies that we review. All the products that we review are either purchased or borrowed and returned. All the products we review are either purchased or borrowed and returned. a strict ethics policy All the work we do is governed by this principle.
My attempts to set up a phone call were repeatedly ignored. I then tried emailing my questions. Why is it that Chinese automakers are interested in working together with US creators of content? What are they getting out of this? It’s been said that Chinese companies do pay for the content. Do you believe that? Is that accurate? ByteDance has what role in all this?
There is more silence. After several months, I finally gave it a last try. Hanyang, to his credit let me down in a gentle manner.
“Thank you so much for following up and for your interest in DCar! At this time, we’re not able to schedule any interviews, but I really appreciate you reaching out and your interest in our work. I hope we can connect sometime in the future.”
