Chinese carmakers increasingly achieving the levels of Western brands across Europe according to new study
- Matthias Schmidt
- Sep 7
- 2 min read
A preview from our latest Q2 2025 Chinese OEM Car Study:
The collective share of all Chinese OEMs' new passenger car registrations reached 5.2% during the first half of the year, which would equate to just over 600,000 new units across a total market of 11.6 million units this year according to the latest edition of the Schmidt Automotive Research quarterly Chinese OEM European Market Intelligence Study published September 2025.
During 2024, Chinese models reached 394,600 new units. That volume is expected to be surpassed after just eight months this year.
SAIC's MG could finish the year ahead of Fiat for the first time, coming to within 6,000 units of equaling the Italian brand during the opening half of the year.
Tesla is also increasingly seeing volume losses with seven consecutive year-on-year quarterly losses across the region, which Chinese brands such as BYD, XPeng and Polestar will look to capitalise, as three-year Tesla lease deals expire and consumers return to the market, perhaps looking for an alternative given the political affiliations Musk now openly carries and appears to has been one contributor to its European fall from grace.
Tesla benefited greatly from consumers having taken out a three or four- year lease deal at the height of European purchase subsidies, making the models more affordable, and given that the product offering for BEVs at the time was more limited, with less than 80 individual models on offer, with four of those being offered by the US company. By the end of June 2025, the number of BEV models on offer across Europe has ballooned to over 125, with Tesla models' numbers remaining the same, while Chinese OEMs now offer over 30 different BEV models from just 11 during 2022.
During Q2 2025, in fact, BYD came to within 13,000 units of equalling Tesla's quarterly comparison. Dolphin Surf and BYD Seal 6 model rollouts during the second half of the year are likely to see BYD come close or eventually pass Tesla during the closing quarter of the year....
Continues in full over 20 pages for subscribers including a forecast to 2030 for Chinese brands across all-fuels and also BEVs-only (€).
Source: Schmidt Automotive Research
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*Western Europe 18 Markets: EU Member States prior to the 2004 enlargement plus EFTA markets Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, plus UK
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