Record Penetration Of Chinese Cars In Europe

Despite the growing obstacles from Brussels, Chinese car brands are rapidly conquering the European market. Six Chinese companies are already among the top 20 best-selling manufacturers, while Geely, BYD, Chery and SAIC have real ambitions to be among the top ten.

Chinese automakers increased sales in Europe in September, reaching a record 194,760 vehicles, increasing their market share to as much as 14.6 percent, according to data from Dataforce.

During the nine months of this year, Chinese brands sold a total of 1.12 million vehicles in Europe, increasing their market share from 5.5 percent, which was the same period last year, to 10.5 percent. For comparison, slightly more than 800,000 Chinese cars were registered in Europe during the whole of 2025.

The Chery Group overtook BYD and SAIC (including MG Motor) to become the best-selling Chinese car brand in Europe for the first time in the ninth month of the year.

They arrive faster than they register.

Investment bank UBS reported on September 25 that Chinese vehicles are being exported to Europe almost twice as fast as they are being registered, with logistical bottlenecks obscuring the true volume of shipments. Vehicles take an average of 30 to 45 days to arrive from a Chinese port to a European customer.

In fact, it was already clear in July that Chinese manufacturers are accelerating their efforts to get as many hybrid cars to Europe as possible before the restrictions come into effect. The influx of cars arriving at European ports will undoubtedly lead to an increase in the number of registrations in the remaining months of 2026.

The number of 194,760 vehicles sold by Chinese manufacturers in September is about a third higher than the previous record of 152,747 vehicles, achieved in June.

The best-selling Chinese car in September was the Chery Jaecoo 7 with 15,470 units sold. This SUV from the C segment is the first Chinese car that managed to be among the ten best-selling models in Europe during one month.

The Jaecoo 7 was also the best-selling model in the UK in September, with more than 10,800 vehicles registered. In the European market, it is followed by the crossover BYD Seal U, which took 18th place with 13,466 units sold, while the compact SUV MG ZS was in 27th place, with 11,205 vehicles sold.

Geely leads the offensive

Cumulative data for nine months show that the Chinese group with the highest sales in Europe is Geely, which registered 294,250 vehicles.

Second place on the list of Chinese manufacturers is taken by Chery with 283,086 vehicles, while BYD is third with 281,974 registered vehicles.

They are followed by SAIC with 271,345 vehicles, Leapmotor with 87,204, and Xpeng with 34,218 vehicles sold.

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