- Chinese automaker are putting the squeeze on Western brands in Europe.
- BYD posted a 311 percent EV sales increase; Jaecoo, Omoda also fare well.
- Chinese brands had a 5.1 percent share in Jan-Jun, just behind Mercedes.
New car registrations in Europe fell 4.4 percent in June and 0.3 percent over the first six months of 2025, but those aren’t the stats that stand out in the latest industry figures from Jato. The ones that grab the attention concern the stratospheric growth of Chinese brands who have already leapfrogged some historic Western names and are coming for more in the second half of this year.
In total, Chinese brands saw sales increase 91 percent to 347,100 in H1, and they now account for a substantial 5.1 percent of the European car market. That puts them just behind Mercedes on 5.2 percent (they actually outsold Mercedes in June) and ahead of Ford on 3.8 percent, and if those stats haven’t caused your jaw to hit the floor I don’t know what will.
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Leading the charge of those Chinese brands is BYD, whose EV sales jumped 133 percent in June and 143 percent in H1, when it sold 41,300 electric cars, putting in 12th place on the list of most-registered EV brands. In the same period 13th placed Cupra shifted 37,400 EVs and Ford only moved 35,200.
But it wasn’t only EV sales that helped the Chinese grab such a big chunk of the European car market. Plug-in hybrids from BYD, Jaecoo and Omoda proved incredibly popular, BYD’s Seal U tying with the VW Tiguan in the race to become Europe’s best-selling PHEV in June.
The Chinese weren’t the only winners in H1. Also celebrating were the VW Group, whose sales were up 3 percent, Renault (up 6 percent), BMW (up 4 percent) and Ford (up 6 percent). Wherever there are winners, though, there have to be losers, and H1’s wooden spoon recipients include Tesla and Stellantis. Tesla’s sales dropped 33 percent in H1 and Stellantis was down 9 percent.
Dacia’s Sandero was Europe’s best selling car overall with 128,800 registered, but it was down 11 percent and has the added pressure of its Renault Clio cousin snapping at its heels – its sales increased 7 percent to 122,500. Third place went to Peugeot’s 2008 and a brace of VWs (T-Roc, Golf and Tiguan) grabbed the next three spots.
But there was no sign of the Tesla Model Y. Sales of the one-time best-selling car in Europe dropped 33 percent to 68,800, meaning it didn’t even break into the top 10, though it was down a less terrible 13 percent in Q2 as a result of a spring facelift. But in the same period overall EV sales for all brands boomed by 25 percent to 1.2 million, helping make Jan-June the first ever six month period in which more than 1 million EVs were registered.