The Chinese automotive industry is on the march, and its ambitions extend far, far beyond national and regional sales. The major players have global ambitions and are steadily delivering on them, assisted in no small part by the political promotion of EV tech.
The Chinese industry is learning fast too, from the examples of those that went before; their grasp of the economic benefits of moving on from ‘white goods’ basic products, to tech and luxury-level products has been very rapid indeed.
As of the end of 2025, there were no fewer than six Chinese Automakers in the list of the world’s top 15 (three are in the top 10).
In combined sales, those six sold more than double what the world’s largest, Toyota, managed. And the rate of growth is still very significant as those same six companies have seen global sales increase by circa 50 per cent since 2022!
Sporting ambitions thus far have been limited; however, several major Chinese manufacturers have had significant efforts in national touring car racing. Again, though, the lessons from their international competitors have been rapidly learned. And now there is an often bewildering array of potential programmes emerging.
So let’s have a swing at explaining who is doing what, who is looking at what, and when we might see real results on track.
Chery
Chery, based in Wuhu, was founded less than 30 years ago in 1997 but is already the fifth largest automobile manufacturer group in China. It sold 2,806,393 vehicles in 2025 across the group’s nine active brands, and was also, somewhat significantly in this context, the largest Chinese exporter of cars, with over 1.3 million exports.
Chery was the first of the major Chinese manufacturers to break cover with interest in Hypercar.
And, whilst the status of an announced “five-year plan” was, and remains, somewhat unclear, it is certainly true that Chery made public announcements of its intention to compete at Le Mans within half a decade under its premier Exeed marque. Its young brand, with less than a decade of history, is set to go head-to-head with Tesla and others in terms of advanced tech and styling.
Its roadmap was reported to include talent development, the construction of a “Le Mans-certified track” in Wuhu, China, entry into the Asian Le Mans Series, and, ultimately, a debut in the Le Mans 24 Hours with an established “Exeed Le Mans Team”.
Multiple meetings between Chery and LMEM about a prospective Hypercar effort (in which the ACO, FIA and LMEM offered guidance on how to proceed) took place, though, at this stage, Chery’s status should be considered interested rather than committed, with the brand described by a senior paddock source as inquisitive, but not yet close to making its ambitions a reality.
BYD
BYD, based in Shenzhen, is the largest Chinese automotive OEM group by sales and the second largest exporter as of 2025.
BYD was initially understood to have joined Chery in expressing interest in Hypercar, but that now looks to have been part of a wider series of evaluations into international motorsport.
The company, whose hybrid and EV road-going cars are making great strides into the European market, seem keen to find an opportunity to join international motorsport and has been linked to Formula One and the potential “12th and final” Formula One team, which FIA President Mohammed Bin Sulayem has made clear he would like to come from China.
BYD is known to have visited the current Alpine motorsport base at Viry-Châtillon earlier this year. Still, it is not clear whether that relates to a potential purchase, or to an arrangement for technical services consultancy.
What we do know is that that visit at least did not focus on Hypercar.
We know too that BYD senior management have been seen in conversation with ex-Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, and that those same senior faces have had meetings with other senior figures in F1.
Only one senior WEC paddock source has spoken to DSC about BYD and confirmed that whilst there have been enquiries, they have been far from detailed or conclusive.
Geely
Privately-owned Geely Auto has achieved much in the three decades it has been in existence and now features a range of brands both self-created in China, and others obtained and developed from elsewhere (including Volvo, Lotus, Polestar, Smart and Proton, plus LEVC (producers of the now electrically-powered London black cab)).
Geely is the fourth-largest Chinese automaker by volume and fifth-largest exporter – and its ambitions are not nearly done yet.
Across their brands, there’s plenty of motorsport history, in particular from Lotus, with seven F1 constructors’ World Championships amongst a long list of achievements for the British brand. But Volvo (Touring Cars), Proton (Touring cars and rally) and Lynk and Co (TCR) too have plenty of history to build upon.
Lotus clings on to a current international motorsport presence via its somewhat troubled Emira GT4 customer programme.
Geely moved outside the domestic marketplace with a touring car programme for its core brand for the first time in 2026, with the Geely Preface TCR replacing Lynk and Co as its primary TCR effort.
But its ambition does not end there. Geely is known to have had face-to-face meetings with the principals of the current Alpine Hypercar effort and looks set to be one of the main hopes for the programme’s survival, though it is not known under which brand.
If this bid is successful, we’ll know soon enough. Rehomologation would have to start in a matter of weeks, rather than months, if the programme is to be on track in 2027, which is understood to be the target.
It seems that Geely is likely to be the first major Chinese brand to have an opportunity to enter the World Endurance Championship.
Great Wall
Baoding-based Great Wall Motors revealed earlier this year that it was developing a V8-powered car as a road-going and GT race model. The car features a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, a plug-in hybrid drivetrain, and, in road-going trim, produces over 1,000 horsepower.
A prototype platform was revealed atBeijing’ss Auto China Expo in April.
The company, one of China’s top 10 car builders by volume and sixth in terms of exports, has evaluated several potential motorsport programmes after dabbling with Rally Raid, including the Dakar Rally a decade or so ago with their Haval brand.
Ex-McLaren Automotive chief engineer Adam Thomson has been retained to develop the car, set to be built under the”GreatFaith” GF brand or sub-brand, with the road car set to break cover in the next 2 years and a possible GT3 to follow on.
There is no indication that Great Wall have current ambitions in Hypercar.
Xiaomi
Here’s the truly left-field contender, the world’s third-biggest mobile phone maker. Known colloquially as China’s answer to Apple, Xiaomi is, very firmly, a consumer tech company, but it too is now in the automotive business, investing billions into a bid to become a significant EV manufacturer.
It has already made a successful swing at record-breaking pace at theNürburgringg with their Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, which was, briefly, the fastest 4-door car ever around the Nordschleife.
German outlet Auto Motor und Sport, though, has made it clear that the ambition goes much, MUCH, further. It believes that Xiaomi are in the mix for a role in the potential 12th Formula One team (see above in BYD).
There is no indication that Xiaomi has ambitions beyond Formula 1 in world motorsport.
Images courtesy of WSC/Fastclick-AvensImages, Geely, BYD, Chery, DPPI
