Let’s Look At What’s New In The Ultra-Cheap Alibaba Car World

You know what I haven’t done in a while? Checked out what’s new on the Alibaba Vehicles and Transportation pages! As you may recall, that is where I was able to source the legendary Changli way way back in 2020. Wow, the unboxing video was five years ago‽ Holy crap. How does that happen, this “time” moving thing? Unreasonable. Anyway, I’m still delighted by the shocking value of the Changli, that $1200 (with batteries) surprisingly usable car, so I thought I’d check and see what the new innovations and styles in the sub-basement ultra bottom of the car market are. I’m sure the current tariff situation will potentially make these all a lot more expensive, but let’s just put that out of our minds and see what’s out there.

By the way, who noticed the interrobang in the preceding paragraph? I’m guessing if you noticed it at all, you appreciated that.

Back to Alibaba cars; I took a little stroll through their offerings, specifically looking at the cheapest cars they offer. I’m happy to say there’s still a good variety at the very bottom, and prices seem to be holding fairly steady, for the most part. It’s clear there’s new styling influences and some minor technological improvements, but overall I don’t think these are all that different than my Changli. But let’s look!

First, as a baseline, I found the same Changli I have, the Freeman, which is still for sale. The price has gone up a bit – it’s $1450 now, which I think includes the batteries, so it’s only about $250 more. Interestingly, it’s looking pretty dated now when compared to the variety of newer tiny electric vehicles, like this one:

This model from… Tianjin (though I think a number of other manufacturers make basically the same one) has a more sleek and refined look than the Changli, and is a lot cheaper, at $755! Wow! The specs seem pretty close to the Changli: 1.1 hp motor, a likely top speed of about 20-25 mph and a range of about 25 miles, I’d guess. I can say from experience that these numbers are good enough for way more uses than you’d think, if you’re in the right environment. I’m impressed by this one!

Of course, that price requires you to buy eight of them. But at these prices, why wouldn’t you?

Look at the back here; even these “old man happy cars” have adopted that full-width design detail that houses the taillights, like so many modern cars have. It’s also two-tone! Something selling for less than $800 has no right looking this good. And check out the interior:

It’s pretty damn nice! I also see the little knob that I think is the “hill-climbing” gear, which I’m pretty sure I had at least some hand in making happen, after my kid beat my Changli running up a hill.

There are others that feel a little more like my Changli in body design and construction, though the stylistic influences have changed. This one, for example, has a very Lincoln-like front end.

There’s also a number of versions of these that use what appears to be a narrower body design and tandem seating. I wonder if these are targeted at really congested areas? The price is about double the cheapest ones, which makes me wonder if they offer any other improvements? The suspension does seem a little more robust.

This one is similar to skinny up there, but looks a bit widened. The bumpers feel a little more substantial, too. I kind of like the bug-like look of these.

There’s a variation of these roundy insectoid-like ones that are three-wheelers, and are priced less than their four-wheeled siblings, which makes sense. Still, this one is like $400 more than the $750 Tianjin four-wheeler and I’m not clear why? This whole market is Byzantine.

Some of the three wheelers get pretty pricey, too, like this one that is $2100 if you buy five, but $5000 for one? Why’s it so much? Because of that very spread-wing eagle-like front lighting assembly?

This body style is common, and it’s a bit more expensive – about $2300 if you buy 5 or more – but it’s also making a face-melting three horsepower. That’s triple the output of the Changli! I bet this thing could hit 35 mph or more, easy.

Clearly, there’s a horsepower race going on over there. This one makes a shocking five horsepower! Five horses! That’s an entire handful of horses! With that kind of power, this thing could be a really viable city car, and I’m not even kidding. If you and seven friends agree this makes the most sense you’ve ever heard, they’re only $3155 each! The body looks a bit more refined than, say, my Changli, even if it looks like the front fender trim is missing in that picture.

If you need something bigger, there’s some amazing options, too. Look how cheap this four-door Heibi New Speed is! $589 (for 10)! Hot clams that’s cheap! How? The body design and construction looks a lot like my Changli, and I suspect it’s very similar in drivetrain and build/build quality. I’m sure it’s not quick with four people in there, but still!

There’s a surprising variety of four-door dirt-cheap options from Hebei. Here’s another sub-$600 one, and the minimum order is only two! You could get two of these for like $1200! Holy crap. And there’s multiple body styles! In addition to the one above, you could have this bold look, too:

I love that strange cocentric-oval not-grille there, and those skeptical-looking headlights. There seems to be a few other styles, too. Should we do a group order of these? Get like 30 and do a big rally?

Changli seems to be having some styling fun, with things like this G-Wagen-like four-door one. There’s other more blatant copycat G-Wagen options, too, if that’s your manner of jam:

This one is $2180 for just one? That’s amazing. How does it look this good for so cheap? As long as you can park this in places where no one can get less than 50 feet close to it and you only park next to bonsai trees and other sub-scale things, you can convince people you rock a G-Wagen.

Even with those G-Wagen and other lookalikes, that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty of independent design going on in the ultra-cheap tiny EV space. Look at this Newspeed: it’s a very modern-feeling design, and one that doesn’t seem to pull from the same pool of so many of these Changli-style bodies: all those panels look pretty bespoke.

It’s still just a 1.3 hp motor, but it feels a bit more refined than many, and $2,250 isn’t bad.

I’m happy to see that this market still seems to be thriving and innovating; the floor seems to have dropped to $500-$600 from $700 or so, and I’m really, really curious to know what these cheapest cars are like. Are they as good as I’ve found my Changli to be? Maybe when these tariffs finally settle down we can check. In the meantime, I can dream my cheap-ass dreams.