Editor's letter: Chinese brands make a splash at Goodwood

The UK hasn’t had its own official motor show for many years, but in its place the Goodwood Festival of Speed has emerged as the industry’s premier meeting place.

While Goodwood is at its core a live event for the paying public rooted in motorsport, the support of car manufacturers and their seizing of the opportunity to present their latest models has allowed for wider industry trends to be played out.

And Goodwood 2024 will be remembered as the edition when Chinese car companies parked on the lawns of the Duke of Richmond’s estate in West Sussex. 

Like with almost every other major industry event in recent months, the huge presence of Chinese car manufacturers was impossible to ignore. This felt different, though. This was not industry professionals wandering around show halls: this was in full public view, with the Chinese brands given prime spots and presented equally alongside much more familiar and established names.

MG went all in and made itself the marque at the centre of the Festival with the main statue to mark its centenary, while the likes of Omoda, Hongqi and BYD (who else?) also had a significant presence.

Each did so for different reasons. MG’s play on its history belies that it’s British in name only, yet what better place to remind people of what you used to be than at somewhere where the informed, engaged and influential audience will remember it?

The reason behind Hongqi, China’s answer to Rolls-Royce and Bentley, being at the show was less clear, although Goodwood is exactly the sort of place where you can legitimise a brand, given the equal footing and neutral branding each marque is given for their presenting space at Goodwood. Likewise, as the cars go up the hill one by one, there are no other distractions and the airtime is just the same as that of a revered old Formula 1 car from Ayrton Senna. Or indeed the latest Rolls-Royce… 

Indeed, Hongqi delayed its press conference to give a tour of its stand to the Duke, under the watchful eye of ex-Rolls-Royce designer Giles Taylor, who swapped Goodwood for Changchun six years ago. It summed up both the surrealism and the sheer pace of change for such a brand to be able to command such an audience. Then again, its pockets are probably quite deep. 

BYD vice president Stella Li said the company was there because “Goodwood is the place where cars are faster, more unique and have more fun”. Can it translate into sales? “I think so. You can see that all our stage is full of people,” she said.

What did those people think? After all, Goodwood itself is a business, and adding in brands most people have never heard of to the spectacle carries risk. So we asked some show goers what they thought.

A few themes were prominent among the people we spoke to: the quality of the cars, concerns about privacy and security of data, the potential lack of dealer support and networks if anything goes wrong, and picking the best marques from the sheer volume of new entrants arriving from China. 

“The initial impression is very good,” said transport manager Andy Green on the quality of the cars. “One’s very conscious of saying that Chinese stuff looks cheap. Nothing here looks cheap today. Everything looks of good build quality. Everything’s put together well. I haven’t seen anything malfunction. I haven’t seen anything not working.”

Conversely, police officer Sam Fenton had less luck. “We sat in a Yangwang earlier and it had already popped up with a dealer fault. I thought: ‘Ah, good start to your presentation…’.”

The branding of the cars also seemed largely well received, although camera specialist Elliott Marris highlighted an issue that Chinese brands face: “I feel like there’s a stigma to overcome if the Chinese want to be serious players. But I haven’t really had the chance to have exposure to them. My first impression is that they look like nice pieces of design. I feel like more people seeing them will help them be more open to the idea of buying a Chinese car.”

Fenton gave the best summary of the chicken-and-egg situation currently confronting Chinese brands: “I think it’s difficult for any manufacturer because you’re introducing something new, and you have to gain trust, and you gain trust and popularity through presenting at events like this today.

“I don’t think BYD has done anything wrong at all. There are just so many Chinese car brands. We’re looking at Yangwang; MG’s now owned by a Chinese company. I just think it’s a bit of an awkward spot. I don’t think there’s enough of an infrastructure for them to be trustworthy just yet. I’d love to be proved wrong: if they can prove they’ve got the whole package, tech, space, range and the dealer backing, then it’s golden.”