Thirteen Chinese car brands, scored on the six facts that decide whether your car still has a dealer, a parts shelf, and a resale value five years from now.
The car can be brilliant and the purchase can still be a disaster, if the company behind it dies or walks away. Analysts expect only 15 of China's 129 EV brands to be viable by 2030. The badge is now part of the buy.
Every Chinese brand sold in Australia, South Africa and the UK gets a file: one score out of 100, built from six checkable facts, with the receipts shown.
No crystal ball and no scare stories. Each score weighs the parent company's accounts, the years already served in your market, the dealer network you can actually drive to, the parts pipeline owners really report, the safety and software track record, and what the used market already says. Three country chips on every file show where the brand is strong and where it barely exists, because a brand can be rock-solid in Johannesburg and a rumor in London.
This is not a hypothetical. It has already happened, repeatedly, and the record is exactly why this guide exists.
| The case | What owners were left with |
|---|---|
| MG Rover collapses, UK 2005 | ~150,000 warranties void overnight |
| Chana's importer goes bankrupt, South Africa 2012 | ~10,000 owners stranded |
| Chery leaves Australia, 2015 | parts hunted at wreckers to this day |
| Fisker collapses, UK 2024 | values cut 23% within weeks |
| Neta fails, 2025 | apps dead, keys broken, trade-ins refused |
Every case above is documented in Part Two of the guide, with sources. So is the good news: buyers who read the twelve warning signals had more than a year of notice in every single one.
Four parts, 62 pages, built like a dossier instead of a lecture.
Thirteen brands scored and ranked, worst to first. Who backs them, how deep the network really is, what owners report about parts, and what moves each score up or down.
Your legal rights in Australia, South Africa and the UK when a brand dies, the case files of how brands actually collapse, the 12-signal Orphan Radar, and the step-by-step playbook if it ever happens to you.
Eight checks that stop a bad purchase before you sign: the warranty fine print, the battery's own contract, the dealer-density test, the parts-shelf test, the safety-rating date stamp, the software test, the middleman question, and the discount trap.
What depreciation really looks like, with the numbers on the table. Which Chinese ute out-holds a HiLux, which EV lost 29 percent in two years, and the seven decisions that protect your resale before you even buy.
All thirteen scores at a glance, the deal-breakers on one page, and a plain-English jargon buster.
Don't take our word for how a Survival File works. Read one.
MG scores 75 out of 100 in the 2027 Edition: the deepest roots of any Chinese brand, and two weaknesses the badge doesn't advertise. Download the complete two-page file, exactly as it appears in the guide, and judge the method for yourself.
Download the MG file · FreeTorqueVision is a research channel covering the Chinese auto industry, watched over 1.2 million times by buyers in Australia, South Africa, the UK and beyond.
We don't sell cars and we don't take brand money. For years, the most agreed-with comments under our videos have asked the same question in a hundred different ways: the car looks great, but will the company behind it still be here in five years? This guide is our answer. Every score is built from public, verifiable sources, over five hundred of them, gathered and dated August 2026, and re-verified every edition.
"I like the car. But what happens if the company doesn't exist tomorrow?"
No, and the guide says so on page one. A Survival Score is a structured reading of verifiable signals: accounts, networks, parts, track record, resale. It tells you where the risk sits and what to watch, not what the future holds. That honesty is the whole method.
Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Every brand file carries a separate chip for each of the three, because the same badge can be strong in one and barely present in another. The deal-breakers and the money method work anywhere.
Thirteen files: GWM (Haval, Tank), MG, Chery, BYD, Omoda & Jaecoo, Geely, Leapmotor, Zeekr, Changan Deepal, Jetour, GAC Aion, LDV Maxus and XPeng, plus a watch list covering Nio and Xiaomi.
Yes, and that is exactly why every future edition is included free. Scores carry their verification date, and when the market moves, a new edition lands and you download it at no cost. You buy once; the guide keeps up.
An illustrated PDF you download instantly and read on any device, plus printable cards you can take to the showroom.
Seven-day money-back guarantee, no questions. If the guide doesn't change how you look at your shortlist, email us and we refund you.
No. No sponsorships, no affiliate links to dealers, no brand money. Some brands score badly in this guide; that is rather the point.
Some Chinese cars are the smartest value on your market. Some are orphans waiting to happen. Thirteen scored files, one radar, and eight deal-breakers tell you which is which, for less than the cost of one service.
Get the Survival Guide · $14.99