While almost no Chinese EVs are legally sold in the US, these are the workarounds that could allow eager enthusiasts to get them onto American roads—at a price.
尽管几乎没有任何中国电动汽车在美国合法销售，但这些方法可以让热心的爱好者将它们开上美国公路——当然，需要付出代价。
Most of us expect our ecommerce orders to show up at our doorsteps, but John Karlin had to drive eight hours from Oklahoma City to Freeport, Texas, to pick up his order: a Chinese electric car.
我们大多数人都期望我们的电商订单能送到家门口，但约翰·卡尔林却不得不开车八小时从俄克拉荷马城到德克萨斯州弗里波特去取他的订单：一辆中国电动汽车。
Karlin, a registered nurse and quality process analyst, read in the summer of 2021 that a tiny $5,000 EV—the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV—was outselling Tesla’s Model 3 in the Chinese market.
卡尔林是一名注册护士和质量流程分析师，他在 2021 年夏天读到一篇报道，说一辆售价仅 5000 美元的电动汽车——五菱宏光 MINI EV——在中国市场的销量超过了特斯拉的 Model 3。
“I saw an article saying the most popular EV in the world is the Hongguang Mini EV, but you can’t have one. So that got me asking: Well, why is it the most popular vehicle? And why can’t I have one?” Karlin says. By October of the same year, he had studied all the requirements to bring this car to the US, placed an order from a Chinese auto exporter on Alibaba, and had the car, a more premium model called the Wuling Macaron, shipped across the oceans to him.
“我看到一篇文章说全球最受欢迎的电动汽车是宏光 MINI EV，但你却不能拥有它。这让我开始思考：那为什么它是最受欢迎的车辆？为什么我不能拥有它？”卡尔林说。同年 10 月，他已经研究了将这款汽车引入美国的所有要求，在阿里巴巴上向一家中国汽车出口商下了订单，并将这辆车——一款更高端的车型，名为五菱宏光 MINI EV——从大洋彼岸运到了他手中。
Still, Karlin was nervous when he got to the customs. He believes he was the first American to import this vehicle model to the US, and he had to navigate uncharted territories to make it happen. Thankfully, he breezed through the various processes of getting his car and then towed it all the way back to Oklahoma City, where he would register the vehicle, insure it, and drive it every day to work at the hospital.
然而，当卡尔林到达海关时，他仍然感到紧张。他认为他是第一个将这款汽车型号进口到美国的美籍人士，他必须探索未知的领域才能实现这一目标。幸运的是，他顺利通过了获取汽车的各种流程，然后将其拖回了俄克拉荷马城，在那里他将注册车辆、购买保险，并每天开车去医院上班。
The China-made Wuling Hongguang Macaron costs less than $8,000.
Photograph: Courtesy of Wuling
摄影： Courtesy of Wuling
Karlin is definitely an outlier. Today, there are almost no Chinese electric cars sold in the US. In fact, the US has become an outlier in the world as affordable Chinese EVs have quickly taken over markets in Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa.
卡尔林绝对是一个特例。如今，美国几乎不销售中国电动汽车。事实上，随着经济实惠的中国电动汽车迅速占据欧洲、亚洲、南美洲和非洲的市场，美国已成为全球的特例。
First, they are almost never sold here officially. Compared to Mexico, where 135,000 Chinese-branded vehicles were sold in 2023, accounting for 10 percent of total car sales, the US has no Chinese auto brands on sale (although it does sell a small number of made-in-China electric or hybrid cars by Polestar, Volvo and Ford). Many Chinese companies, like BYD and NIO, have explored the possibilities to enter the US market—this is one of the largest auto markets in the world, after all—yet plans have been deterred by economic calculations, political pressures, and rising tariffs such as the 25 percent tariffs announced in March on any cars imported to the US.
首先，它们几乎从未在这里正式销售。与墨西哥相比，2023 年有 13.5 万辆中国品牌汽车在该国销售，占汽车总销量的 10%，美国却没有中国汽车品牌在售（尽管确实销售少量由 Polestar、沃尔沃和福特生产的中国制造电动汽车）。许多中国公司，如比亚迪和蔚来，都探索过进入美国市场的可能性——毕竟，这是世界上最大的汽车市场之一——但计划因经济计算、政治压力以及不断上升的关税（例如 3 月份宣布的对进口到美国的任何汽车征收 25%的关税）而受阻。
For many other countries, this is where parallel import, or unauthorized gray market vehicles, comes in. But they’ve been almost nonexistent in the US since 1988, when Congress passed a law essentially forbidding the import of any foreign cars unless they go through a lengthy and costly process to prove they meet US safety and emission standards. The law was passed when Japanese and European automakers were significantly squeezing the US auto market, which sounds familiar to Chinese EV brands’ market advantage today.
对于许多其他国家来说，这就是平行进口，或未经授权的灰色市场车辆发挥作用的地方。但在 1988 年美国国会通过一项法律基本上禁止进口任何外国汽车，除非它们经过漫长而昂贵的流程证明其符合美国安全和排放标准后，这些灰色市场车辆在美国几乎不存在。这项法律是在日本和欧洲汽车制造商显著挤压美国汽车市场时通过的，这与中国电动汽车品牌今天的市场优势听起来很熟悉。
For example, the law requires vehicles to pass a crash test before the model can be admitted, and it has to be initiated by a registered importer approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), so it’s basically impossible for an individual looking to ship a single car to the US.
例如，法律规定车辆必须通过碰撞测试才能进入美国，而且必须由经国家公路交通安全管理局（NHTSA）批准的注册进口商发起，因此个人想要将一辆车运往美国基本上是不可能的。
The major exception to this rule is that any vehicle that’s more than 25 years old is fair game and exempt from the approval process. “Some states, like California, have further restrictions, but for the most part, 25 years means nothing is needed,” says Derek Weldon, owner of Pacific Coast Auto, which facilitates imports for the mature US market for used Japanese cars for this exact reason. While these cars often face difficulties getting insured or repaired, they can usually be registered in the US with no obstacles.
这项规则的主要例外是，任何超过 25 年的车辆都可以免税，无需批准程序。“有些州，比如加利福尼亚州，有进一步限制，但总的来说，25 年意味着什么也不需要，”太平洋海岸汽车公司的老板德雷克·韦尔登说，该公司专门为成熟的美国二手日本车市场提供进口服务，原因就在于此。虽然这些车辆在获得保险或维修时经常遇到困难，但它们通常可以在美国顺利注册，没有任何障碍。
Since China’s EV boom mostly took place in the last decade, none of these electric cars could have entered through this exception. “It would be impossible to import a new or used Chinese vehicle into the US unless it was built before the year 2000, a time before any Chinese EVs were made,” Weldon says.
由于中国的新能源汽车热潮主要发生在过去十年，这些电动汽车都无法通过这个例外进入美国。“除非是 2000 年之前制造的，否则不可能将一辆新的或二手的中国车辆进口到美国，因为在那之前中国还没有制造任何新能源汽车，”韦尔登说。
Finding a Workaround 寻找替代方案
Still, if you are ready to make compromises, there are some methods people can adopt to get a Chinese car legally into the United States, albeit temporarily or under significant restrictions.
即便如此，如果你愿意做出妥协，人们可以采取一些方法，将中国汽车合法地引入美国，尽管可能是暂时性的或受到严格限制。
What Karlin found out in 2021 was that some states, including Texas and Oklahoma, have separate safety regulations for low- and medium-speed vehicles that don’t go on highways. Traditionally, these vehicles are street-legal golf carts or farm vehicles, but he discovered that the tiny Wuling Macaron could be slotted into this category too.
2021 年，卡尔文发现，德克萨斯州和俄克拉荷马州等一些州对不上高速公路的低速和中速车辆有单独的安全法规。传统上，这类车辆是街道合法的高尔夫球车或农用车辆，但他发现小巧的五菱宏光 MINIEV 也可以归入此类。
Chinese auto brand BYD’s flagship sedan, the HAN EV, is made in Mexico.
Photograph: Courtesy of BYD
“The Macaron has backup cameras; it has backup alarms that, as you get closer to items, it beeps faster and a little louder. So you know, it’s so much more safe than just a regular low-speed or medium-speed vehicle,” Karlin says. He was able to register his Macaron provided that his car wouldn’t go above 35 miles per hour (hence no highway access), and he could satisfy that requirement by asking the exporter to hard-lock a speed cap for his vehicle. Since he was only using it to drive to work or grocery shopping in the urban center, Karlin says he didn’t see such a limited top speed as a problem.
“宏光 MINIEV 配备了倒车摄像头；它有倒车警报，当你靠近物体时，蜂鸣声会变得更响亮、更快。所以，它比普通的低速或中速车辆安全得多，”卡尔文说。他能够注册他的宏光 MINIEV，前提是他的车不会超过 35 英里每小时（因此无法上高速公路），并且他可以通过要求出口商对他的车辆设置硬速限来满足这一要求。由于他只是用它在城市中心开车上班或购物，卡尔文说他认为这样的限速并不是问题。
Another exception is that non-American citizens can bring their foreign vehicle to the country temporarily without getting an American license plate, says Cao Yang, owner of CDM Import, a Los Angeles–based company that’s exploring the nascent market for Chinese vehicle imports. Cao has helped facilitate some newer and larger Chinese cars to be shipped to the US temporarily.
另一个例外情况是，非美国公民可以暂时将他们的外国车辆带入美国，而无需安装美国车牌。洛杉矶-based 公司 CDM Import 的老板曹阳表示，该公司正在探索中国汽车进口的初生市场。曹阳已经帮助一些较新的大型中国汽车暂时运往美国。
For a car to be brought into the US through this route, it has to leave the country within 12 months and cannot change hands in the duration. In addition, China has its own rules for exporting cars for personal use. Normally, it only allows a vehicle to leave the country for six months, and requires the owner to pay a hefty deposit. Accounting for shipping times, it means that this specific vehicle would usually only be able to stay in the US for about three months—making it only suitable for test drives for car enthusiasts rather than everyday use. But during that short time window, “you can drive around with a Chinese license plate. They will print out a certificate of temporary importation, which you just need to stick to the windshield,” Cao says.
通过这条路线将汽车带入美国，车辆必须在 12 个月内离境，期间不能转手。此外，中国对于个人用途的汽车出口也有自己的规定。通常，它只允许车辆离境六个月，并要求车主支付高额押金。考虑到运输时间，这意味着这辆特定车辆通常只能在美国停留大约三个月——这使得它更适合汽车爱好者进行试驾，而不是日常使用。但在那短暂的时间窗口内，“你可以用中国车牌开车。他们会打印出临时进口证明，你只需要把它贴在挡风玻璃上，”曹阳说。
The same rule applies to Mexican citizens coming to the US. And since Chinese EVs have become ubiquitous in Mexico, and many people living on the border regularly commute between the two countries, Cao says it’s become easy enough to spot a Chinese EV in Los Angeles these days. Cao claims to see Chinese brands such as BYD, MG, and Roewe several times a month, and usually driven by non-Chinese owners.
同样的规则也适用于来美国的墨西哥公民。由于中国电动汽车在墨西哥已变得非常普遍，而且许多边境居民经常在这两个国家之间通勤，曹先生说如今在洛杉矶很容易就能看到中国电动汽车。曹声称他每个月都能几次看到比亚迪、名爵和荣威等中国品牌的车，而且通常是由非中国车主驾驶。
The last way is going through a car manufacturer, which is allowed to bring in foreign vehicles for research, road tests, display, and other purposes. Chinese companies like BYD, Li Auto, and NIO have operations in the US and could legally bring in their own vehicles, says Cao.
最后一种方式是通过汽车制造商，这些制造商被允许为研究、路试、展示和其他目的引进外国车辆。曹说，比亚迪、理想汽车和蔚来等中国公司在美国有运营业务，可以合法地引进自己的车辆。
Vehicles imported this way have to bear manufacturer plates and can’t be sold to individuals. However, since such vehicles are allowed on public roads, some companies could allow their employees, or even influencers, to take them for a ride. Cao says BYD has a number of its Chinese models at the company’s Pasadena design center. “Several times I’ve seen their employees driving the cars home. I even saw [one] parked where I live,” he says.
通过这种方式进口的车辆必须带有制造商铭牌，并且不能卖给个人。然而，由于这些车辆被允许在公共道路上行驶，一些公司可能会允许他们的员工，甚至网红，来试驾。曹说比亚迪在公司的帕萨德纳设计中心有一些中国车型。“我见过他们员工几次把车开回家。我甚至见过（其中一辆）停在我住的地方，”他说。
In a similar vein, Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, famously flew five Chinese EVs to Chicago last year and has been “driving them ever since,” according to his recent media interviews.
类似地，福特 CEO 吉姆·法利去年曾将五辆中国电动汽车飞往芝加哥，并且根据他最近的媒体采访，他一直“在驾驶它们”。
“As a normal course of business, all automakers globally buy competitive vehicles for benchmarking. When done, if the vehicle is purchased in the same country, it can be resold. Other vehicles, once benchmarking is completed, are disposed of,” Ford spokeperson Marty Gunsberg told WIRED. Have they been disposed of, we ask, or is he still driving them? “We have nothing to share on the status of these vehicles,” says Gunsberg.
作为常规业务，全球所有汽车制造商都会购买竞争性车辆进行基准测试。当测试完成后，如果车辆是在同一个国家购买的，它可以被转售。其他车辆，一旦基准测试完成，就会被处理掉，”福特发言人 Marty Gunsberg 告诉 WIRED。我们问，它们已经被处理掉了，还是他还在开着它们？“我们对这些车辆的状态无可奉告，”Gunsberg 说。
Expensive Hobby 昂贵的爱好
With so many restrictions in place, getting a car from China to the US is going to cost a lot more than their original price in the home market.
由于存在诸多限制，将汽车从中国运到美国的花费将远高于其在本土市场的原价。
Weldon says while his company doesn’t import cars from China, a comparable price to import a car from Japan to the US is usually between $105 to $130 per cubic meter, which means an average car could cost somewhere between $1,000 to $2,500 in shipping alone. Then there’s the price to hire a customs agent to process it, register it at the local DOT, and pay an insurer that’s willing to take the uncommon vehicle (which is often harder than expected) before it can finally go on the road legally.
韦尔登表示，虽然他的公司不从中国进口汽车，但将汽车从日本进口到美国的费用通常在每立方米 105 到 130 美元之间，这意味着一辆普通汽车仅运输费用就可能高达 1000 到 2500 美元。此外，还需要支付雇佣报关代理处理手续、在当地 DOT 注册，并找到愿意承保这种不常见车辆的保险公司（这通常比预期的更难）的费用，才能最终合法上路行驶。
Karlin ran the numbers for his Macaron and found that he spent about $13,000 in total, while the car itself was priced below $8,000.
卡林为他的 Macaron 计算了费用，发现总花费约为 13000 美元，而汽车本身的售价低于 8000 美元。
Those numbers are sure to have increased now as tariffs against Chinese cars have been raised significantly. Last year, the Biden administration raised tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25 to 100 percent; then Donald Trump came into power and imposed 20 percent tariffs on Chinese products and, most recently, another 25 percent tariff on all imported cars.
这些数字现在肯定已经增加了，因为针对中国汽车的关税已经大幅提高。去年，拜登政府将中国电动汽车的关税从 25%提高到 100%；然后唐纳德·特朗普上台后对中国产品征收了 20%的关税，最近又对所有进口汽车加征了 25%的关税。
BYD’s Dolphin Mini is also made in Mexico, so it can theoretically be imported to the US—if a buyer is prepared to jump through the right hoops.
Photograph: Courtesy of BYD
But money may not be the biggest problem. The Biden administration also implemented a ban on importing Chinese “connected vehicles” in January. It’d be hard to find a Chinese EV these days that doesn’t have the features associated with Bluetooth, cellular, or satellite connections, so it effectively bars the import of any newer Chinese cars.
但金钱可能不是最大的问题。拜登政府还在 1 月份实施了禁止进口中国“联网汽车”的禁令。如今很难找到没有蓝牙、蜂窝或卫星连接相关功能的国产电动汽车，因此这实际上禁止了任何更新的中国汽车的进口。
Karlin says his Macaron has been followed by police cars, but never pulled over. After going to two different tag agencies to register his car, the state of Oklahoma requested to re-audit his paperwork, which they did and he passed just fine.
卡尔林表示他的 Macaron 一直被警车跟踪，但从未被拦下。在去了两个不同的牌照机构为他的车注册后，俄克拉荷马州要求重新审核他的文件，他们进行了审核，而他顺利通过了。
As for the car itself, which had gone through such lengths to be US legal, Karlin loved it. He enjoyed the EV’s innovative design, which is very different from the American cars he’s experienced, with nice little touches like putting a USB port behind the rearview mirror so a dashcam can easily be plugged in. And the Macaron’s minuscule size proved super helpful when trying to find spots in busy hospital parking lots, and U-turns on narrow roads were a breeze.
至于这辆车本身，它为了符合美国法规已经付出了巨大的努力，卡尔林非常喜欢它。他喜欢这辆电动汽车的创新设计，这与他以往体验的美国汽车截然不同，比如在后视镜后面安装 USB 接口，这样行车记录仪可以轻松插入。而且 Macaron 极小的尺寸在繁忙的医院停车场停车时非常实用，在狭窄的道路上掉头也毫不费力。
Karlin drove the Macaron for 12 months before a US company offered to buy the vehicle from him for research. The CEO of the buyer company came to meet him in Oklahoma City, and as they sat in the car together, “I could see he’s smiling. I can see the wheels turning in his head as he’s realizing this and that, and looking at these different features and materials,” he says.
卡林驾驶着 Macaron 车长达 12 个月，直到一家美国公司提出以研究为目的购买这辆车。买方公司的 CEO 来到俄克拉荷马城与他见面，当他们一起坐在车里时，卡林说：“我能看到他微笑着。我能看到他在意识到这些和那些的同时，头脑中转动的轮子，以及看着这些不同的功能和材料。”
Cao has been to a few car enthusiasts gatherings in the US where a Chinese media company has brought along the EVs they temporarily imported. He says the American participants really liked the Chinese cars and often wanted to know how to get one. “For those who are rich enough and have the connections, they probably are thinking about importing a few and experiencing it themselves.”
曹曾参加过几次美国的汽车爱好者聚会，当时一家中国媒体公司临时进口了一些电动汽车参展。他说，美国参与者非常喜欢中国汽车，并经常询问如何购买。“对于那些足够富有且有人脉的人来说，他们可能正在考虑进口几辆并亲自体验。”
