European leaders can complain to Beijing all they want about cheap Chinese electric vehicles flooding the continent, but their resistance may be futile.
This summer, more and more transporters have been spotted on Germany’s autobahns ferrying loads of BYD, Leapmotor, and Great Wall Motor cars from ports to dealerships. On Swedish and British roads, Xpeng and Polestar cars are also becoming more common.
Industry researcher Jato Dynamics published analysis recently showing that 5.1% of new vehicle registrations in the first half of this year were for Chinese brands in 28 European countries (including the UK), a record high and a near doubling from a year ago. To put that figure in context, new registrations for Mercedes—once a darling of luxury car owners—reached 5.2% in the first half.
BYD is a big winner, registering 70,500 electric and hybrid vehicles in that period, a whopping 311% year-on-year jump. In June, BYD was the tenth most registered new EV brand, ahead even of Ford. Industry experts across the continent told Nikkei Asia that there has been a dramatic shift in consumer perception.
“Whereas ten years ago, Chinese cars were often characterized as ‘lethal’ or ‘dangerous’ over failed crash tests, major Swedish auto magazines and newspapers are now giving Chinese EVs top marks,” said Frederic Cho, China adviser and vice chair of the Sweden-China Trade Council. “Xpeng, Nio, and Geely’s Zeekr and Polestar have established prominent concept or flagship stores in central Stockholm.”
Cho expects Chinese brands to have gained 10–15% of Sweden’s EV market over the next five years, despite “some lingering hesitation [that] exists among consumers due to a general negative perception of China for political reasons and concerns about personal information being sent to Beijing.”
Chinese automakers may also have won some hearts in Sweden because Geely turned Volvo’s fortunes around after it acquired the ailing iconic Swedish carmaker from Ford in 2010. Another factor, Cho said, is that Sweden’s population is concentrated in urban areas covered by the Chinese companies’ dealerships and workshops.
“This concentration means shorter distances to dealerships, unlike in Germany where a major share of the population lives in small towns that are covered by European, Korean, and Japanese brands but not by the Chinese,” Cho said.
In neighboring Denmark, Jorn Gronkjaer, chair of the Danish EV Association, has also noted a progressively more positive attitude toward Chinese EV brands. The market share of Chinese cars in Denmark reached 5.5% in June, up from 4.4% at the end of 2024, according to Danish online car marketplace Bilbasen.
“Danes have traditionally shown strong solidarity towards European cars like Volvo and Volkswagen, but the availability of lower-priced EVs, notably from brands like BYD, Xpeng, and MG, has been crucial for making electric cars accessible to every family in Denmark,” Gronkjaer said.
He projected that the market share for Chinese brands in Denmark could reach 20% in the next five years, particularly with innovation, quality improvements and potential acquisitions of other brands.
Even in the Swiss market that is still dominated by German brands, BYD has broken through.
“The BYD Dolphin Surf is the first Chinese car to make a splash in the Swiss media and generate interest, especially among young people who cannot afford more expensive models like the Audi e-tron and have grown up with high-quality Chinese electronics and Chinese e-commerce websites like Temu and Shein,” said Holger Wahl, chair of the Electric Vehicle Club of Switzerland.
The organization estimates that the Chinese EV market share is still under 1%, but expects it to grow to 3% by the end of the decade. The Swiss, with higher disposable incomes, tend to go for Audi and VW cars.
But Wahl said that young Swiss people buy cars via apps like Autoscout 24, which levels the playing field for Chinese brands as they do not have the extensive dealership presence that European carmakers have.
With Chinese cars now increasingly a common sight on the continent and in the UK, where does this leave European carmakers? Several experts said they had confidence that European brands will hold their own over the long term.
“I’m quite trustful that some of the European brands will safeguard their large market shares,” said Gronkjaer. “If you are driving on Danish roads, you will see Volkswagen’s IDs, BMW i, Renault E-Tech models, and Ford Explorer much more than in many other places.”
Wahl believes the luxury segment will still be dominated by European brands. “I see the Chinese potential more in the lower price range, that is, growing unit numbers with low revenue,” he said.
Indeed, BYD has mass production in its sights to serve the European market. The company had set up operations in Hungary’s Szeged city to avoid European Union (EU) tariffs on Chinese-made EV imports.
But Reuters reported recently that BYD was delaying mass production at Szeged to 2026 and was shifting much of the planned output to Turkey, which isn’t in the EU but has a tariff-free trade agreement with the bloc.
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.