During our trip to China, we took a number of car trips. I amused myself by watching other cars on the road.
Roughly half of those other cars where Chinese made, such as some MGs. Most of the rest were, to my surprise, European makes, usually German or French. Cars from the Audi family were common, as were BMWs. I saw a lot of Peugots and Renaults, fewer Citroëns. I saw a couple of Britmobiles, but they were fairly rare.
I was surprised by the relative lack of American cars. I saw a Jeep, and a few swasticars, but that was about it.
I have no clue whether the Chinese market has been affected by Elon Musk’s commitment to the politics of genocide, as it has in Europe. The Chinese experience in WW2 was mass–murder under the control of the Japanese, not the Nazis, so I presume they are far less sensitive to Nazi salutes than in Europe. Thus I have no clue whether many car buyers there would now never ever consider a Tesla.
Having said all that, the dominant vehicles on city roads are not cars, but scooters, the great majority of which are electric. These electric scooters are very different to those common in Europe. Here, they’re like the childhood push scooters, electrified and driven too fast. There, the scooters stick to the road, usually, and look very much electric vespas, with the occasional tic–tic taxi amongst them.
On those scooters I saw many many people, including adults driving with children sitting behind them. What scared me is so few people wore crash helmets, including the children. Admittedly, I only saw one scooter accident when I was on holiday, but, ever so, one accident is enough to risk seriously injury, especially if the riders aren’t protected. This cavalier attitude to safety, particularly children’s safety, shocked me.