Call me old fashioned, but I don’t want my Japanese car with a Chinese accent| Opinion

August 30, 2026 Iain Curry

I understand it, but I don’t have to like it.

Times are face-punchingly tough for legacy car brands right now. China’s not just winning; to my mind it’s won.

Globally, Chinese brand market penetration has been swift and brutal.

The old established marques simply can’t compete against a heady combination of value, tech, luxury, equipment and the thrill of the new offered by China’s carmakers.

Buyers we thought would be loyal to Toyota, Ford, Mazda or Nissan for life? Nope.

And the younger folk? They simply aren’t as engaged with car culture as we older lot are… so who can blame them for picking a cheap new brand with lots of interior glitter?

What can the old-school car makers do?

Reducing quality, R&D, safety, etc. simply wouldn’t do (one hopes), so inevitably, it’s been a case of can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

And that’s manifested itself by calling in favours from Chinese joint ventures. Of which traditional car brands have many.

The established lot bring decades of experience covering quality control, smart engineering, driving dynamics and what-the-market-wants design.

The Chinese? Masters of low cost and high speed manufacturing, helped by none of those costly and annoying things like workers’ unions, employment rights and providing a living wage. Subsidies from a one-party state go a long way too.

So that’s the state of play. And Australia’s recently welcomed Chinese-made vehicles with very familiar, established badges on bonnets and boot-lids.

The Hyundai Elexio SUV. Kia EV5. Mini Cooper EV. Most Volvos. And very recently, the Mazda 6e: the brand’s first Chinese built vehicle sold on our shores.

Result is all of the above are sold in Australia at a cheaper (often far cheaper) price than if they’d been made in their country of origin or one of their other international plants.

I’m very aware the vast majority of buyers wouldn’t realise this. Nor probably care.

Also made in China: 2026 Hyundai Elexio Elite.

But I, as a motoring writer and road tester for over 25 years, have picked up on a few things.

When testing such cars, they don’t feel quite right. Not quite authentic. Like looking at fake art. Or more relevantly, the replica or recreation of a classic car.

Again, most wouldn’t notice or care, but driving the likes of the Elexio, EV5 and now the Mazda 6e, I can’t help but notice their Chinese accent. And that feels a bit not right.

That doesn’t stop them being good cars that deserve to sell well. But don’t expect we old car guys to notice. And care.

How would you feel if your Ferrari wasn’t built in Maranello, Italy? Or your Bentley in Crewe, England?

Pretty cheated, I’d bet. And while such cars are big dollar items, I reckon it still applies to more blue-collar brands. It’s why if a model of Mazda is built in Japan, or a Renault is made in France, they shout about it. They’re proud of it.

I’m going to zoom in on the Mazda 6e, as that’s the car I’ve been testing this week. At from $49,990 for a full EV, it looks impressive value.

And a bloody lovely-looking hatch/sedan it is too. Lots of recognisable Mazda design elements, plus a particularly plush interior.

It’s a joint-venture with China’s Changan Automotive, and the platform is the same used on the Deepal L07. The car’s built in Nanjing.

I checked Mazda Australia’s website, and I downloaded the 6e brochure. None of the above is mentioned anywhere.

Had the joint-venture been with, say, Lotus (suspension) or Louis Vuitton (interior), I guarantee that would be shouted about in every bit of literature.

Look, I have long been a Mazda admirer. Any brand that has given us 35 years of brilliant MX-5s, the delicious RX-7 and screaming 787B Le Mans winner deserves bow-down respect. I came home from the hospital in a 1972 Mazda 1300.

But the 6e felt like something of an imposter. It’s just missing some Mazda-ness.

Mazda 6e: Lovely looks, but with a distinct Chinese accent.

And this point is key. If traditional car brands dish us up cars that feel a bit “generic Chinese EV” then what’s the point in buying one over another Chinese car? The latter will no doubt be cheaper and have a longer warranty too.

The Mazda 6e has its merits. As mentioned, it’s a real looker. It’s pretty roomy, the touchscreen quality is superb, the interior presents well and the heated seats are lovely and comfy for long journeys.

It’s got some zoom-zoom EV performance, is rear-drive for a bit more involvement (in Sport mode it’s a hoot on wet roundabouts) and economy on my test (14.7kWh/100km) was superb.

But there are too many Chinese bad habits here as well.

My test car did not smell like a Mazda. Trust me, this matters to we car people. The 6e had a damp sock aroma, and no windows-open-in-the-sun solved it.

The indicator sound is annoyingly clunky and loud. Steering’s too artificial-feeling, while most Mazdas offer lovely feedback.

The driver assist kit is way too nannying, and often refused to believe my hands were on the wheel, beeping and flashing warnings with annoying regularity. Shame, as Mazda’s new CX-5 SUV (made in Japan) is the opposite – one of the best resolved ADAS systems I’ve yet tested.

2026 Mazda 6e has a beautifully presented interior for the money.

Other Chinese EV-type irritants include pop-out door handles (let’s just agree they’re not worth it), poor Bluetooth call quality and the fact the 6e doesn’t have a start/stop button. It only turns off (including the audio system) once you’re out of the car and lock it with the key. Nobody wants this.

While I’m grumbling, the voice assist is in an angry American accent (why not a soothing Aussie one?) and it pronounces “defog” completely wrong.

Then you must (of course) adjust everything through the screen. Fan speed, temperature and even side mirrors: A Chinese (and Tesla) car trait we simply don’t want in our family Mazdas.

The bigger question here is, in the race to keep up with Chinese car brands, are legacy car brands like Mazda jeopardising the very thing that keeps them special, relevant and beloved?

Their heritage. Their authenticity. The feeling that this car has been designed, created, built, refined and tested to exhaustion by an ace team of Japanese experts who bleed the brand and its ethos.

2025 Mazda 6e EV — The made-in China Mazda 6e EV starts from $49,990.

Perhaps they have no option? They need to sell cars, and the Mazda 6e is priced right and would prove, for the vast majority, a lovely thing to live with.

But I can’t help feeling that something important could be lost.

Have someone who has owned a Mazda MX-5 and a few Mazda3s test the 6e and see what they reckon.

I suggest they’ll respect the 6e, but won’t love it. They likely won’t even be able to tell you why.

Authenticity matters. And in this age of artifice everywhere and AI taking over, perhaps authenticity matters more than ever, including in our cars.