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The story
In Malaysia, the rear axle of a Chinese-made SUV broke, causing a wheel to fall off, and local authorities responded by suspending the vehicle’s registration. The story originally blew up on Reddit and has now been picked up — with photos — on 5ch’s News Flash+ board. Thread posters piled on with harsh criticism of the build quality, with comments like “the underside looks like a domestic car from decades ago,” while others noted that Chery Automobile plans to team up with Autobacs to launch a kei-class EV in Japan next year — splitting opinion on how to judge Chinese cars as a whole.
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Chinese SUV’s Rear Axle Failure Raises Questions About Global Expansion
Chinese SUV’s rear axle failure raises questions about its global expansion
Source: reddit.com / Original article here
What people said
Yeah, they've got everything from top-tier to absolute garbage.
And this is the garbage tier Osaka decided to partner with for its EV buses instead of going with a top-tier maker.
I'd argue exploding is the normal state for it.
Not exploding? Must be defective, aru~ (mock-Chinese-accent gag often used online)
Don't go dragging the Pajero into this.
apparently the suspension and underbody on Chinese cars are catastrophically bad.
Built in a way where it'd be no shock if it fell apart at any moment.
Is there really anyone dumb enough to buy a janky EV just because it's cheap?
It's one of those YouTube channels where a mechanic inspects and rates the underside of various cars.
Apparently Chinese cars are grimier than even Showa-era (pre-1989) domestic cars.
According to the guy, Porsche's underside is just gorgeous by comparison.
There's literally a 'weld seal' sticker slapped over it.
Oh, the one where some white guy keeps yelling 'Omodaa!' (pun on 'omotai' — 'so heavy!') while trashing the thing?
Just look at those Expo buses recently — this is a trust issue before we even get to price.
This particular car is actually a high-grade model going for 5-6 million yen.
I think I heard they've also got plans to team up with Autobacs and launch a kei EV in Japan next year.
This one? The one launching next year —
Autobacs to sell Chinese-made kei EVs: investors including Chery to launch four models under the EMTA brand starting next year
https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/economy/20260527-GYT1T00260/
Investment stakes: Chery 27.27%, Jiangsu Yueda 27.27%, Autobacs Seven and Guoxuan High-Tech 18.18% each, Anest Iwata 9.09%
https://www.autocar.jp/post/1247046
Guess it really can just pop right off like that… lol
Well, it's front-wheel drive, so I guess it's that 'the rear just has to roll along, who cares' school of cheap design.
Popping off this cleanly just makes it look like falling off was the intended design, lol
'We've improved serviceability!' (said no sincere engineer ever)
So cutting-edge~
lol the Segway line got me
Is that… plastic?
While we're sitting here feeling smug, China's winning on sheer volume and we're going to get overtaken — or maybe we already have been.
Japan shouldn't just laugh at China's failures; if we don't keep putting out better products than we are now, we'll end up like the home-appliance industry (which lost its global dominance to Korea and China).
>Sure, some Chinese cars are awful, but some are perfectly solid too
I get your point, but the pattern with Chinese products across the board is:
once a genuinely good product shows up, a flood of cheap knockoffs follows,
the good product gets buried under them, and eventually
even the original maker starts cutting corners just to win the price war.
does that mean the rear axle is a rigid (solid) axle?
They said the underside is like a domestic car from a few years back — something like an old Vitz (Toyota's old subcompact).
Though in Japan, even BYD is struggling to gain traction, so I doubt anyone else stands much of a chance.
Chery's teaming up with Autobacs to launch a kei EV in Japan next year, you know.
It really pops off that cleanly?
Looks like a car from decades ago.
The mechanic's video said the underside looks like an old Vitz.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
China is now said to have more than 100 automakers, rapidly expanding globally with EVs and SUVs, but inconsistent quality control has repeatedly drawn criticism from various countries. What stands out about this Malaysian case is that local authorities took the relatively strong step of suspending the vehicle’s registration over a serious defect — a broken rear axle — that could cause a wheel to come off while driving. While the thread was dominated by harsh comments like “the underside build quality is on par with a domestic car from decades ago,” some pointed out that Chery plans to partner with Autobacs to bring a kei EV to the Japanese market next year, splitting opinion on whether Chinese cars can fairly be judged as one monolithic category. There were also observations that, with Chinese products generally, even when a genuinely good product emerges, copycats and excessive price competition tend to drag quality back down — suggesting this is a theme that resists simple good-versus-bad framing.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “Malaysia suspends registration after Chinese-made SUV’s rear axle breaks — photos included.”
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