Chinese car sales represent 5.3% of the European passenger car market over the first eight months of 2025, but already 7.6% in September 2025
- Of the 8,682,021 new passenger car sold in 30 European countries (EU + UK + Switzerland + Norway) for the first eight months of 2025 (a 0.3% increase compared to the first eight months of 2024), Chinese brands accounted for 462,935 units, or 5.3% of the entire European passenger car market (compared to 3.2% for the first eight months of 2024). Sales of traditionally European brands acquired by Chinese carmakers—Volvo (2.4% European market share for the first eight months of 2025), a Swedish brand and subsidiary of the Chinese Geely Group; Lotus; and Smart—are not included in this total.
- Sales of Chinese brands in Europe (all engine types combined) have been strong and irreversible for the past two or three years, even though BYD's Hungarian factory has yet to release its first model and new European tariffs are being imposed on these brands. Despite these new tariffs, Chinese cars remain competitive and are therefore selling well.
- At this rate, Chinese cars could reach 7.5% of the European market or even 10% quite quickly, especially after the start-up of the BYD factory in Hungary.
- The European countries that currently buy the most Chinese cars are the United Kingdom (largely due to MG's British heritage), Italy, and Spain, which have now far surpassed Germany and France. Poland is making significant progress and has now overtaken Norway. However, this is primarily due to Chinese cars with internal combustion engines.
- The best-selling Chinese brands in Europe are MG and BYD, which are far ahead of their competitors, but there is an increasingly significant Chinese offering as 40 Chinese brands are now distributed in Europe.