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Chinese EV makers grow share in Europe’s hybrid, EV market
Chinese automakers including BYD and Leapmotor, a China-based automaker with Stellantis-Leapmotor ventures, lifted their share of Europe’s hybrid and EV registrations in February.
Chinese brands took 16% of hybrid registrations, while their share of fully electric registrations rose to 14%.
Across all passenger cars sold in the EU and UK, Chinese brands reached 8% market share in February, up from 4.2% a year earlier.
Chery has started assembling cars in Barcelona and BYD is ramping up a plant in Hungary, while Volkswagen is preparing cheaper EV models for Europe and Renault is expanding its fully electric lineup.
🔗 Source: Bloomberg
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
Price and subsidies fuel China’s European market entry
- China-made electric vehicles (EVs) sell for about €32,000 on average in the EU, compared with more than €50,000 for European models 1.
- Government support helps keep prices down. In 2022, Chinese automaker BYD received €2.1 billion in direct government subsidies, which equals 3.5% of revenue 2.
- European manufacturers face higher production costs plus a domestic battery capacity gap, which slows efforts to scale affordable mass-market EVs 1.
- The EU plans to produce 90% of its battery needs by 2030. By mid-2025, operating battery cell capacity sat near 200 gigawatt-hours (GWh), while projected demand for 2030 exceeds 1 terawatt-hour (TWh) 1.
EU tariffs are reshaping China’s expansion strategy
- The EU added countervailing duties for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from Chinese automakers such as BYD and Leapmotor. Rates run from 7.8% to 35.3% by company, plus the standard 10% import tariff. Hybrids are out of scope 3.
- Chinese brands are pushing more plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), which sit outside the measures 4.
- Over the last year, Chinese EV brands doubled their EU market share. The shift tracked a fourfold jump in PHEV exports 4.
- Beijing reportedly told automakers to pause investments in EU countries that supported the tariffs, which deepened political and economic divisions within the bloc 1.
