7:47 am, June 22, 2026
Chinese cars are suddenly everywhere with new brands and models launched seemingly every week.
But there’s a growing number of people who are worried about an alleged sinister side to these vehicles.
Do a quick bit of internet surfing and you’ll soon find people claiming Chinese cars are spying on us, that they’re made with ‘slave labour’ and even concerns that one day China could simply ‘turn them all off’.
But is any of it true? Well, Car Dealer has produced a video (above) that looks at some of the more outlandish claims swirling around the web and while the evidence is sketchy, a lot of what people are worrying about is theoretically possible.
Take the spying claims. Many people are concerned that these tech-laden cars from China are filled with microphones, cameras and internet connectivity.
Car makers can use these to remotely access and update the vehicles with over-the-air software. It also means brands know how fast people drive, how aggressively they brake and even what phone they’ve connected.
But that isn’t just a Chinese car thing – it’s a modern car thing.
The Mozilla Foundation, an American not-for-profit organisation, best known for the Firefox web browser, said cars are the ‘worst product category’ they have ever reviewed for privacy.
Its report states car firms are ‘terrible at privacy and security’ and accused them of collecting too much personal data.
‘We reviewed 25 car brands in our research and every one we looked at collects more personal data than necessary and uses that information for a reason other than to operate your vehicle and manage their relationship with you,’ said the foundation.
The organisation found its main concern was the language car brands use when talking about sharing the data they collect with government or law enforcement agencies. None of the brands it looked at met its standards.
‘Hyundai goes above and beyond,’ said the foundation. ‘In their privacy policy, it says they will comply with “lawful requests, whether formal or informal.” That’s a serious red flag.’
So what’s clear is that most connected, modern cars are collecting huge amounts of data about their owners. What’s more worrying is about who can ask for it – and whether the car makers will hand it over if requested.
Professor David Bailey, an automotive expert, told Car Dealer: ‘The key issue isn’t whether a car is Chinese, American or European; it’s what data is collected, where it’s stored, who can access it, and what safeguards are in place.
‘It’s sensible to scrutinise Chinese carmakers, but it’s equally important to apply the same scrutiny to all manufacturers. Data collection is an industry-wide issue, not a uniquely Chinese one.’
The issue with Chinese cars and spying accusations, though, appears to stem from what companies in the country could be compelled to share by the Communist state.
The country’s ‘National Intelligence Law’ means Chinese firms must cooperate with state intelligence work if they are asked to. China, however, disputes claims it could use cars for nefarious means.
That hasn’t stopped UK government departments from being on edge. The Financial Times reported some military establishments introduced restrictions relating to cars featuring Chinese-made technology.
RAF Wyton, a key military intelligence base, was one such site that instructed owners of such cars to park two miles away from the main buildings due to concerns the internal sensors, cameras and microphones could be used for espionage.
Although the MoD says there are no ‘centrally mandated policy restrictions’ on Chinese vehicles, it admitted that ‘some defence organisations may have stricter requirements at certain sites’.
Reports have also emerged that the MoD has placed warning stickers inside some official vehicles telling staff to ‘avoid conversations above OFFICIAL classification’ and not to connect devices to some cars.
The Times suggested, in a report last November, that the government was concerned about all cars that featured Chinese-made software and GPS units.
The MoD said: ‘Protecting national security is the foundation of everything we do. We have strict security procedures in place to ensure all sensitive information is protected.’
So why the panic? Well, it doesn’t help that China has acted in similar ways to cars built outside its country with American-owned car maker Tesla seeing its models banned from certain military sites in China too.
The Chinese state also stepped in when Communist Party leaders held a summer retreat in 2022, banning Teslas from entering the local area for some two months. Critics ask why would China do such a thing if there was nothing to worry about?
‘A connected car is essentially a computer on wheels,’ added Prof Bailey.
‘The privacy questions it raises are broadly similar to the questions we’ve been asking about phones, smart TVs and voice assistants for years.
‘The debate shouldn’t be framed as Chinese cars versus everyone else. It should be about transparency, data governance and consumer control across the entire connected vehicle sector.’
He added that many of the concerns people have about cars – such as location tracking, cameras and microphones – all already exist in the mobile phones people voluntarily carry around every day.
Ian Plummer, from Autotrader, said there is still a ‘small group’ of consumers who ‘remain cautious’ about Chinese cars, but he believes the ‘fear factor is easing’.
He added: ‘These cars are competitively priced, packed with technology, and increasingly delivering the quality and features buyers want. For most people, value, specification and usability now matter far more than outdated assumptions or geopolitical noise.’
State backed
While a lot of the accusations aimed at Chinese cars are something that most modern vehicles could do, the difference with China is that a lot of its car manufacturing is state backed.
China has poured billions into its car industry through subsidies, cheap loans and tax breaks, giving its car industry a helpful leg-up many other car firms would die for. But why?
The innocent explanation is that China has seen this as the next industrial revolution and wants to be the leader.
Others believe it’s more nuanced than that. They claim China wants to dominate one of the world’s most important industries and see others become dependent on Chinese technology and supply chains.
It’s certainly clear that the more Chinese cars appear on our roads – and the more the UK automotive industry builds their livelihoods around them – the greater China’s economic and political influence becomes.
The European Union and America are clearly concerned at the ‘unfair advantage’ Chinese car brands have over their homegrown rivals. The US currently charges 100% tariffs on Chinese cars and the European Union levies tariffs up to 35% too. In the UK, there are currently none.
Forced labour?
A more uncomfortable question for Chinese car brands, though, are allegations around forced labour. Something all of them will strongly deny.
Human Rights Watch, US lawmakers and investigative journalists have all raised concerns about links between China’s Xinjiang region and global automotive supply chains.
The area makes 10% of the world’s aluminium where investigators claim forced labour is used in the supply chains.
Human Rights Watch wrote a 99-page report – titled ‘Asleep at the Wheel: Car Companies Complicity in Forced Labor in China’ – which raised a number of concerns.
It said: ‘Some carmakers have succumbed to Chinese government pressure to apply weaker human rights and responsible sourcing standards at their Chinese joint ventures than in their global operations, increasing the risk of exposure to forced labor in Xinjiang.
‘Most have done too little to map their aluminum supply chains and identify links to forced labor.’
The issue is once the aluminum has been mixed with other raw materials it is incredibly hard to track and that’s a problem that affects the global car industry, not just China.
The Chinese government strongly rejects the allegations, but rights groups argue that independent audits inside Xinjiang are almost impossible because of government controls.
But do buyers care? Well, take one look at the monthly sales figures and it’s clear that many do not. Chinese brands are on course to secure a 20% new car market share in 2026 and that figure is rising rapidly.
Buyers appear to have found that a car on a £250 a month PCP deal – regardless of brand or where it was manufactured – is too tempting a deal, whatever the rumours circling online may be.
So are Chinese cars really spying on us? Well, the answer is, we actually don’t know. In fact it’s unclear if any car is spying on us. What we do know, though, is that the technology for states to do so if they wished is absolutely at their fingertips.
Prof Bailey added: ‘The real question is not whether data is being collected, but who has access to it and what protections are in place.’
