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Bella Castle International Ltd, a Dominican Republic-based automobile distributor that sells Honda and Changan cars in its home country, opened its newest showroom in Kingston on December 4, 2024 to sell Changan, a Chinese car marque. Changan is the sixth Chinese car brand to enter the Jamaican market, traditionally dominated by Japanese and European marques, and more recently, Korean marques. However, in recent years, Chinese cars, once met with scepticism over quality, are increasingly appearing on Jamaican roads.

“I think that the acceptance of Chinese cars comes from the open-mindedness of new customers, younger clients that are less traditional about only Japanese or Korean car brands,” Praxedes Castillo Bellapart, general manager of Bella Castle Group, said in a December interview with the Jamaica Observer. He has witnessed younger generations choose Chinese brands after realising they offer technology and innovation.

“Everyone aspires to have a premium vehicle, and [they] get to have it at a very good price with a Chinese brand,” Bellapart said. “So, that’s what we’re doing here. We’re giving luxury at an economic price to all the Jamaican people.”

Andrew Jackson, CEO of Jetcon Corporation, the distributor of BAIC cars since 2023, faced scepticism initially. However, he has seen people adjust their behaviour towards the cars.

“If you compare the cars now with, say, the Chery QQ from 10 years ago, the fit and finish of these cars are far superior,” Jackson said. “In many cases, the styling of these cars is ahead of the Japanese and Korean cars — the modern type of styling. So the Chinese have really jumped ahead of the game — specially when it comes to styling. They are up there when it comes to quality,” Jackson pointed out.

BAIC is produced by Chinese State-owned automobile manufacturer Beijing Automotive Group Co, Ltd. Its acronym relates to its predecessor, Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation.

Chinese car brands have made significant inroads in Jamaica over the past three years. While Chinese truck brands such as Shacman, Sinotuk and Foton, had a presence, it wasn’t until 2021 that Chinese car brands started gaining traction. That’s when Stewart’s Automotive Group introduced Great Wall Motors’ Haval marque.

Titanya Clarke, brand sales manager for GWM Haval at Stewart’s Auto Group, said the marque was introduced in 2021 and sales began in 2022, ahead of its official May 2023 launch.

Clarke said the brand has been well-received by the market. Corporations have also bought its pickup truck line as part of their fleet vehicles.

“One of the things that we used as a strategy is to actually have people experience the vehicles. When you experience a Haval, and how it drives, and what we are offering, you understand why we go by the saying, ‘This is affordable luxury,’ “ she said.

Still, it was pointed out that while Jamaican consumers are warming to Chinese car brands, it is not an easy sell all the time.

Courtney Smith, sales manager for BYD Kingston, is still learning about customers who traditionally bought Japanese and Korean brands like Hondas or Kias. These customers react differently when introduced to a Chinese car brand, Smith said.

Smith, who previously sold Hondas for ATL Automotive Group, noted the difference.

“As a person who used to sell Honda, when a person walks in, nine out of 10 times they know what they want,” he said. “The brand is a household name [so] they’re more picking their colour and looking at specs.”

In contrast, newer brands require more effort to sell.

Yet, Jamaica’s automotive history suggests Chinese car brands are here to stay, with the recent shift being the latest chapter in this evolution. Although the first automobile was independently introduced to Jamaica in 1903, it was the 1960s that marked a pivotal period for the industry, with the country relying on trading partnerships with England and the United States to import popular vehicles.

Family cars like the Morris Oxford and Austin Cambridge, which doubled as taxis, dominated the market. Characterised by rectangular designs, these vehicles contrasted with sleek 1960s sports cars like the Jaguar E-Type. While SUVs were non-existent, station wagons and Land Rovers provided motorists with extra space and four-wheel drive capabilities.

The 1980s saw the introduction of Russian-made Ladas, which coincided with import restrictions. The easing of these restrictions in the 1990s paved the way for a lasting influx of Japanese vehicles, which continues to shape the country’s automotive market today.

However, that dominance is now being challenged by the Chinese car brands across the globe.

In 2008 that country’s automotive industry took the top spot in production, with its factories churning out millions of vehicles annually. As of 2024 it also ranks as the world’s largest automobile market, topping global sales and ownership charts. However, Chinese car makers are facing increasing headwinds from tariffs, particularly from the US and EU, which could potentially disrupt their export-driven growth. The US, for instance, in May 2024 quadrupled tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from 25 per cent to 100 per cent, while the EU imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles of up to 45.3 per cent in late October 2024.

Chinese automakers have, in response, pivoted in those markets, deciding to export its hybrid cars to Europe for example, to get around the tariffs on full electric models, and have also gone aggressively after new markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“Because the Chinese are having problems to go into North America and Europe, they are pushing even harder to go into other countries. At the end of the day they are still competing with the BMWs and the Toyotas and so on — but maybe not in the primary market but in the Latin America, and the Caribbean, and India, and Africa and so on [instead],” Jackson said, adding that he expects the Chinese brands to eventually find their way into North America and Europe.

From January through October, Chinese companies sold 9.75 million fully electric and hybrid vehicles — an increase of 34 per cent from a year earlier, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. About one million of those vehicles were exported outside China.

BYD is well positioned as the leader, with a market share of around 35 per cent. In China, its biggest market, BYD sold 2.9 million fully electric and hybrid vehicles in the first 10 months of 2024 — an increase of 35 per cent from a year earlier, according to China Passenger Car Association. Globally, BYD has broken into the top 10 of total vehicles sold, and looks poised to pass Ford Motor and Honda soon.

The company has aggressively expanded overseas. It has built assembly lines in Brazil, Hungary, Thailand and Uzbekistan. It is also looking to put a factory in Mexico, a market where it expects sales to double next year.

Here in Jamaica it is classified as a premium brand and is thus not targeted at the mass market as are value brands such as Honda and Kia, though the prices are comparable, with the technology, most times, in these Chinese brands being superior — a far cry from the days when Chinese-made products were snubbed for being poor quality knock-offs of more popular western brands.

“From what I have seen the legacy brands — Toyotas, Hondas, Fords — they have taken a backseat in giving the public what they want and you have to wait long for changes,” Smith said.

He pointed out that Chinese automakers disrupt Jamaica’s car market by rapidly advancing technology, offering more features at lower prices, and outpacing legacy brands like Toyota and Honda in innovation cycles. Chinese brands like BYD and Haval provide advanced features — such as adaptive cruise control, 360-degree cameras, and cooling seats — as standard, making them more competitive. Unlike traditional automakers that update models every five years, Chinese manufacturers release frequent updates, enhancing technology and efficiency. For instance, BYD’s hybrid cars now achieve ranges of 1,100 km, with newer models already promising 2,000 km. This aggressive strategy challenges competitors like Tesla on pricing and innovation, reshaping consumer expectations across the world and in Jamaica.