Europe is the highest-stakes market for Chinese automakers: big EV demand, strong incumbent brands, and anti-subsidy tariffs that have pushed BYD, Chery, Leapmotor and others toward local production in Hungary, Spain and beyond. MG remains the best-selling Chinese badge; premium EV brands test the waters from Norway outward.

Scale and momentum

Europe is where Chinese automakers face their toughest competition and their biggest prize. In full-year 2025, Chinese brands sold roughly 811,000 vehicles across Europe — up about 99% year on year — for close to a 6.1% market share, according to JATO Dynamics. December 2025 was the first month Chinese-brand sales topped 100,000 units, briefly reaching around 10% share. That momentum carried into 2026: Chinese brands roughly doubled their EU registration share to about 6% in early 2026, and by mid-year had out-registered Mercedes in a single month and Ford over the first half. Chinese brands now account for roughly 11% of Europe's electrified (BEV + PHEV) market.

Who is winning

MG (SAIC) remains the volume leader, with roughly 307,000 units in 2025, and it briefly outsold Tesla in the first half of 2025. BYD is the fastest riser — about 187,000 units in 2025, up from under 50,000 in 2024 — with Q1 2026 registrations up nearly 170%. Chery (via Omoda and Jaecoo) and Leapmotor (through its Stellantis joint venture) both grew triple digits in H1 2026. Key models include the MG ZS, MG3 and MG4; the BYD Dolphin Surf budget EV (launched May 2025 from around €23,000–26,000), Atto 3 and Seal; the Omoda 5 and Jaecoo 7 PHEV; and the Leapmotor T03 and C10.

Tariffs and localisation

Trade policy is the defining variable. Since October 2024 the EU has levied definitive anti-subsidy duties — on top of the standard 10% import duty — of roughly 17.0% on BYD, 18.8% on Geely and 35.3% on SAIC, pushing total tariffs as high as about 45%. Brussels has been negotiating minimum-import-price undertakings as an alternative and is weighing extending measures to plug-in hybrids. The response is localisation: BYD's plant in Szeged, Hungary is ramping to mass production in 2026 (targeting 300,000 units a year), a Turkey plant is due around mid-2026, Leapmotor's T03 is built at Stellantis's Tychy plant in Poland, and Chery is restarting the former Nissan plant in Barcelona under its Ebro venture. Growth is increasingly tilting toward PHEVs and hybrids to sidestep the BEV-specific duties.

Figures reflect 2025 full-year and 2026 H1 data (JATO Dynamics, European Commission, company releases).

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