Cars, the Chinese have more than doubled their market share in Europe

Chinese car brands were the main driver of new sales growth in May in Europe, doubling volumes by 111%. According to data from the British Institute Jato Dynamics, Chinese manufacturers registered 65,808 units last month, accounting for 5.9 per cent of sales in the Old Continent. This means that the Chinese more than doubled their market share from 2.9 per cent compared to the same month in May 2024. Despite the imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles by the EU, Chinese brands continue to register strong growth in Europe, according to Jato Dynamics, thanks in part to an offer of alternative powertrains, such as plug-in hybrids or full hybrids.

And we come to the individual Chinese car brands. MG registered 29,400 vehicles in May, an increase of 30% year-on-year, surpassing Fiat in registrations since the start of the year with 133,400 units compared to Fiat's 125,300. Byd, on the other hand, while registering a year-on-year increase in registrations of 397%, lost out to Tesla by only 40 units, after having exceeded the American brand's sales for the first time in April. Jaecoo, on the other hand, overtook Honda in sales with its 7,449 registrations, Omoda recorded 4,213 units sold surpassing Mitsubishi. Leapmotor, finally, sold 1,723 units surpassing Lancia, which recorded an 80% drop. In contrast, Lotus recorded a 48% drop.

Other non-Chinese brands that performed well in May included Skoda, which occupied second place in the brand ranking, while Dacia recorded a significant increase in volumes. Cupra overtook Seat in the brand ranking from the beginning of the year, recording a 30 per cent increase in registrations. Also among the non-Chinese brands, Maserati recorded a 40% drop, while Abarth sales fell by 78%. The Vw Group, the Renault Group and the BMW Group performed well with registration increases of 3.3%, 4.6% and 6.3% respectively.

Renault Clio led the best-selling model ranking in May, with a volume increase of almost 12% and 21,163 units sold, while Dacia, despite a 10% drop in sales, secured second place in the model ranking with Sandero. The Peugeot 208, leader in April, slipped to fourth place, however, ahead of the Volkswagen Golf. The other Volkswagen Tiguan (+16%) seventh and the Dacia Duster (+13%) eighth recorded good performances in May, while the other Vw Golf and T-Roc, on the other hand, recorded sharp declines in the order of 18% and 10% respectively.

Models that performed well in May included the MG ZS, the 15th best-registered vehicle, along with the BMW X1, Seat/Cupra Leon, Peugeot 3008, Skoda Kodiaq, Jeep Avenger, MG 3 and Mini Cooper. Of the new models coming to market, the Skoda Elroq dominated the ranking with 9,222 units registered in May and 24,100 since the start of the year. It was second overall among electric cars behind the Tesla Model Y, but ahead of the Volkswagen ID.7, ID.4 and ID.3. Other growing models include the Jaecoo 7 with 7,449 units, Byd Seal U with 7,100 and Renault Symbioz with 6,743. The Cupra Terramar recorded 5,445 units, the Audi Q6 5,007 and the Volkswagen Tayron 4,793.