Soon, the safest cars will be made by China, not Sweden - GWM's WEY and Ora, Maxus tops Volvo in Euro NCAP 2022's best performers

If you were to ask your parents or grandparents on who makes the safest cars, chances are they will answer Volvo. The boxy Volvo 240 was known as ‘The brick’ or ‘The tank.’ Some may even add Saab to the list, basically any car that came from Sweden.

If you were to tell this group of people that China now makes some of the safest cars in the world, they will most likely call you a delusional fool sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party.

Well, European vehicle safety rating organization Euro NCAP say it is now the norm for Chinese cars now frequently score 5-star results, and consumers may need to recalibrate their perception of Chinese cars. Five Chinese brands made their Euro NCAP debuts in 2022 – Chery, BYD, WEY, Ora, Maxus - all went away with the maximum 5 stars rating.

Also read: Proven safety as Chery Omoda 5 awarded full five-star rating by Euro NCAP

For the first time ever, two Chinese brands also emerged as the safest cars tested by Euro NCAP in 2022 – Great Wall Motor’s WEY and Ora.

Meanwhile, utility vehicle specialist Maxus’ MIFA 9 scored higher than the sole Volvo tested in 2022 - the Volvo C40 Recharge.

“2022 was notable for the number of new Chinese brands coming to Europe and achieving great results. Following some less-than-successful attempts to break into the European market in the past, several manufacturers are showing that Chinese brands can now compete on safety with well-established European brands. In the Small Family Car category, the ORA Funky Cat is exceptionally well equipped and, being at the top of its class, outperformed several familiar brands.

“The second Chinese brand car in our best-in-class list is the WEY Coffee 01, again highly equipped and performing well in all categories,” said Euro NCAP in announcing last year’s start performers, the Best in Class 2022 list.

The two Chinese newcomers were joined by Korea’s Hyundai IONIQ 6 (Large Family Car category), America’s Tesla Model S (Executive Car) and Tesla Model Y (Small Off-roader), rounding up the star performers of 2022.

The Ora Good Cat, which is sold in Europe as the Funky Cat, scored 92 percent in adult occupant protection, 83 percent for child occupant, 74 percent for pedestrian, and 93 percent for safety assistance. In comparison, the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe scored 88 percent, 81 percent, 79 percent, and 92 percent respectively.

The Wey Coffee 01 scored 91 percent for adult occupant protection, 87 percent for child occupant, 79 percent for pedestrian, and 94 percent for safety assistance. The Maxus MIFA 9 scored 93 percent, 89 percent, 73 percent, and 83 percent respectively.

The sole Volvo tested in 2022 was the Volvo C40 Recharge, which scored a commendable 92 percent in adult protection, 89 percent in child occupant protection, 70 percent in pedestrian protection, and 89 percent for safety assistance – very good scores by any measure, but it’s a score that’s easily matched by the Chinese.

All other Volvo models were tested under the older, less stringent test protocols and thus cannot be compared with the current 2020 – 2022 test protocols.

If you are wondering isn’t Volvo considered a Chinese marque too since it’s owned by Geely? Well the key point here is that other homegrown Chinese brands have closed the gap with Geely’s Volvo, almost to the point of diminishing Volvo’s Swedish advantage, assuming that this hasn’t already happened.

Separately, a commentary by Onn Haran, CTO of fabless semiconductor company Autotalks, published on Automotive News Europe say that changes to the latest Euro NCAP 2023 test protocols by will allow Chinese manufacturers to pull even further ahead, because fitment of hazard warning features like peer-to-peer car-to-car communication protocol V2X (Vehicle-to-X), which Chinese manufacturers have a lead, will now be awarded up to 10 points for safety assistance (ADAS).

In very simple terms, V2X allows cars to communicate with each other, so if a car ahead encountered a hazard, it can send warnings to cars approaching behind, usually via 4G / 5G cellular network.

“Chinese vehicles, which have previously done poorly on crash safety tests, could very well top the ratings in the years to come. In fact, the grades of vehicles manufactured in China have seen steady improvements lately, according to Euro NCAP's rating.

“It would, therefore, not be outrageous to predict that Chinese cars will take the lead by 2026. This can, at least partly, be attributed to recent and upcoming updates to the Euro NCAP test protocols and the deployment of V2X (vehicle-to-everything) technology by Chinese automakers,” said Haran.

“Chinese automakers have already been launching vehicles with built-in V2X. They have done so in preparation for a change in the safety grading by China NCAP in 2025.

“These Chinese cars, which are destined for export to Europe, the U.S. and other markets, will contain the latest safety technology, which will invariably help them excel in the 2026 Euro NCAP tests,” he added.

Euro NCAP revises its test protocols every 3 years. The current cycle will run until 2025 and by 2026, V2X is expected to be given even greater importance, as features like AEB is expected to be very common by then.