As China’s automobile industry has rapidly developed and expanded into the international market in recent years, an industry insider has revealed to The Epoch Times that performance, safety, and durability issues in Chinese cars are rooted in systemic corruption within the Chinese communist regime.
Huang Guocheng, a former automotive mechanical structural design engineer in Guangxi Province, joined a well-known Chinese auto company after graduating from college in 2004. He told The Epoch Times recently that Chinese auto companies generally focus their research and development on eye-catching elements—such as appearance, color, and interior trim—but place less emphasis on performance and safety.
Huang, who left China for the United States in March 2024, said that this design requires an additional transmission structure, which weakens the collision resistance of the car body.
In terms of performance, Huang said that there is a clear gap between Chinese cars and brands from other countries.
“Some domestic cars may have rusted chassis, loose parts, and various abnormal noises after driving for two or three years; while foreign brands of the same level, such as Toyota’s Corolla or Volkswagen’s Jetta, perform stably. This is due to differences in quality control and production standards,” he said.
Although Chinese cars have made progress in battery life and charging technology, “they are clearly lacking in core safety technologies such as braking systems, chassis rust prevention, electronic protection, and overheating warnings,” he said.
He compared Chinese cars with international brands such as Volvo, “whose active safety systems such as the ability to automatically correct behavior when driving errors occur and avoid obstacles are still extremely rare in Chinese-made cars.”
As to the reason for the difference, Huang said that in order to catch up with government subsidies and policy dividends, Chinese automakers generally have hasty research and development processes and poor product stability. Huang criticized this “quick push and quick sale” model, which is completely different from other companies’ practice of repeatedly testing a car model for many years.
Corruption Undermines Safety
There is a serious corruption problem in the testing and certification process before the vehicle is put on the market in China, according to Huang.“Many safety tests are led by government agencies, and if the car companies don’t ‘give them benefits,’ the testing procedures will be difficult for the companies,” he said.
Huang also said that “in order to pass the inspection, many car companies use additional reinforcing materials such as thick steel plates and fireproof cotton for ‘special samples’ of the vehicles submitted for testing.”
“In actual mass production, they cut corners to save costs, resulting in the coexistence of two sets of standards, leaving major safety risks,” he said.
The purchasing departments are also corruption-stricken areas, Huang said, as many auto company purchasing managers are relatives of senior Chinese Communist Party officials and can almost bypass the normal supervision system.
“As long as they send enough [bribes], suppliers with poor quality can also enter the supply chain,” Huang said.
Mainland Chinese media have reported some of the high-profile instances of such problems.
In August 2024, Chen Demei, former vice president of Shanghai Automotive Group, was found to have used his power to purchase products from his son’s company at high prices and illegally accepted bribes.
In 2022, Ideal Auto’s purchasing director was arrested for “accepting bribery by non-state employees.”
A related issue is that there is often no accountability for accidents caused by car quality issues because of the close relationship between manufacturers and government departments, according to Huang.
“Car companies have a special public relations department that keeps in touch with government departments. Once an accident or complaint occurs, they communicate [with the departments] to downplay it, reducing major issues into minor ones and small issues into nothing,” he said.
“The absence of justice and the silence of the media have allowed institutional corruption to exist for a long time without anyone being held accountable.”
Regarding the structural problems of China’s auto industry, Huang said the core problem lies in the system and political orientation. He said that Chinese auto companies generally “only serve the upper level but not the lower level,” meaning they focus on pleasing the authorities who are in charge and ignore the actual needs of users.
“A healthy auto industry should rely on user feedback to drive quality improvement. But in China, such a mechanism is destroyed by the entire institutional environment,” Huang said.
“Only by changing the system can the Chinese auto industry really get on the right track.”
