Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and China’s Great Wall Motor (GWM) CEO Mu Feng attend the opening of the GWM automobile factory on August 15, 2025, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. China News Service | China News Service | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Chinese electric car companies are increasing investments in overseas factories as they ramp up competition against Tesla and other global automakers.For the first time since records going back to 2014, the Chinese electric car supply chain last year invested more outside the country than at home, according to a U.S.-based consulting firm Rhodium Group report published Monday.The bulk of announced overseas investment, or 74%, was in battery factories, the report said. But it noted investment in assembly plants abroad was also “growing rapidly.”The spending plans come as Chinese automakers face intense competition at home and higher tariffs on exports. Boosting investments abroad can help Chinese businesses win foreign governments’ support for market expansion.”Growing regulatory pushback in host markets like the EU is raising barriers to entry and will push more Chinese companies to establish local manufacturing operations,” the Rhodium report said.The Chinese electric car industry’s domestic investment in manufacturing tumbled sharply to $15 billion in 2024 from $41 billion in 2023 — after peaking at over $90 billion in 2022 in announced projects, according to Rhodium data.While overseas investment has remained far lower, it “narrowly surpassed” domestic levels in 2024 for the first time, the report said, without sharing an exact figure.More deals in the pipelineAutomotive was the second-most active sector for Chinese outbound investment in the second quarter this year, according to a separate Rhodium study released late July. The materials and metals sector ranked first.”We recorded higher than usual activity by EV parts manufacturers, with eight transactions exceeding $100 million,” the July report said. “The largest among them was led by GEM, a Chinese battery materials manufacturer, which committed $293 million to e …
