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Every tenth new car across Europe now a Chinese model

  • Writer: Matthias Schmidt
    Matthias Schmidt
  • 23 hours ago
  • 2 min read
Bar chart comparing car market share in W-Europe. Chinese cars surpass Korean and Japanese from Q1'24 to Q1'26. Reds show growth trends.

According to exclusive new industry research published by Schmidt Automotive Research, Chinese manufacturers accounted for every tenth new car entering Western European roads during March. Just under 140,000 new models entered the region during March, accounting for 9.7% of the region’s new-car market. However, during the opening quarter of the year, the figure was slightly lower at 8.5%, with the inflationary seasonality impact from the UK’s March registration plate changeover boosting penetration during the most recent month. UK records highest Chinese OEM penetration across Western Europe during Q1 2026

Chinese models penetrated 15% of the UK's new-car market, with just below 100,000 new units entering the former EU member state according to SMMT data, which has failed to replicate EU anti-subsidy tariffs on BEVs exported from China, offering a strategic mitigation strategy while maintaining a high logistical utilisation rate, especially for more vertically integrated OEMs such as BYD which now has a fleet of eight long-term chartered vessels.


The same applies to Norway, which saw the second-highest Chinese penetration uptake across the region at 14.4% according to OFV sourced data. Brand agnostic and price elastic Southern European markets, Spain and Italy, were just below that, with above regional average double-digit penetrations.


Meanwhile, Chinese OEMs' market share on a trailing 12-month rolling basis has now surpassed 7% for the first time with Chinese volumes set to equal Korean models on the same basis by the end of April at 7.5%.

SAIC's MG brand maintained its positoin as the number one Chinese OEM during the opeing quarter, narrowly ahead of BYD and Chery, which is the fast growing major Chinese manufacturer across the region.


Our quarterly Chinese OEM European Market Research Study provides a Chinese OEM forecast to 2030 as well as a more depth look into where the market share gains are coming from.  A full analysis is available for our clients in the upcoming Q1 2026 Chinese OEM Study. The full year study is available to order below





*Western Europe 18 Markets: EU Member States prior to the 2004 enlargement plus EFTA markets Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, plus UK

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