{"id":116492,"date":"2026-03-08T21:31:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotive.einnews.com\/article\/898178318"},"modified":"2026-03-08T21:31:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:31:20","slug":"chinese-carmakers-motor-towards-taking-a-fifth-of-uk-market-share","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/08\/chinese-carmakers-motor-towards-taking-a-fifth-of-uk-market-share\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese carmakers motor towards taking a fifth of UK market share"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese-made brands are on track to account for a fifth of new vehicles on Britain\u2019s roads as soon as next year, according to industry experts, highlighting the challenges facing western car manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p>The number of Chinese companies selling into the UK is set to double from 13 to almost 30, with lesser-known names joining the likes of the fast-growing entrants BYD and Jaecoo.<\/p>\n<p>BYD\u2019s market share hit 2.39 per cent in February, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This left the brand just behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/topic\/tesla?msockid=1c29881be5206fff25b89f0fe4986ef5\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/topic\/tesla?msockid=1c29881be5206fff25b89f0fe4986ef5\">Tesla<\/a> on 2.69 per cent, with the popularity of Elon Musk\u2019s brand having waned over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wc-newsletter-puff wp-block-newspress-block-web-components\" data-code=\"TNL-103\">\n<div class=\"wc-newsletter-puff__body\">\n<div class=\"wc-newsletter-puff__message\">\n<p>Business newsletter<\/p>\n<p>The business editor\u2019s exclusive analysis of all the latest financial and economic news.<\/p>\n<p> <button class=\"wc-newsletter-puff__submit\" data-tealium-event-navigation-name=\"widget : puff : sign up now\"> Sign up with one click <\/button> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>BYD and Tesla are closely followed by Jaecoo, which has gained a foothold in the UK with a market share of 2.25 per cent, up almost threefold in the past year. The Jaecoo 7 SUV, which starts at about \u00a330,000, was launched in early 2025 and has become the best-selling Chinese car in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>Ian Plummer, the commercial director of Autotrader, said Chinese brands were gaining ground as consumers acted on \u201cword-of-mouth\u201d recommendations. \u201cWe are currently seeing around a quarter of new-car leads on our platform going to new entrants from China,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-article-ad alignfull\"> <span class=\"inline-article-ad__title has-medium-font-size has-times-digital-w-04-font-family\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<p>\u201cGiven how fast brands such as BYD and Chery Group are growing \u2014 both were under 1 per cent at the start of the year \u2014 as well as notable launches towards the end of 2025 from brands such as Changan, Aion and Geely, we expect that the Chinese brands will reach 15 per cent market share this year and could touch 20 per cent in 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image nuk-image-block size-large\"><img data-opt-id=758893364  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=75&ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=100&ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=150&ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=240&ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=500&ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=640&ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=800&ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=1280&ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"3523\" width=\"4519\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/mlmjbqro95r8.i.optimole.com\/cb:bOxR.6a5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/877b7292-a847-45e9-ba2f-188b29a6a43a.jpg?strip=all&format=webp&crop=4519px%2C3523px%2C0px%2C410px&resize=2360&ssl=1\" alt=\"Changan Automobile's Deepal S05 is displayed at IAA Mobility 2025 auto show in Munich.\" class=\"wp-image-20713369\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Changan\u2019s Deepal S05 at the Munich Motor Show last year<\/figcaption><span class=\"nuk-image-block--credits\">Angelika Warmuth\/Reuters<\/span><\/figure>\n<p>The 13 Chinese brands in the UK market include Changan, Chery, Geely, Leapmotor, Omoda, Skywell and Xpeng, most of which have experienced strong growth. Another 14 brands are understood to be exploring entry to the UK market in the next 12 months, with all price points covered and brands offering electric vehicle, hybrid and petrol options.<\/p>\n<p>The perception of Chinese cars as a cheaper alternative to European and US brands is shifting as companies \u201cload\u201d cars with innovative technology, Plummer said.<\/p>\n<p>The number of car brands in the UK has grown from 45 in 2020 to 75 this year, with expectations that it will reach 90 brands in two years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-article-ad alignfull\"> <span class=\"inline-article-ad__title has-medium-font-size has-times-digital-w-04-font-family\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<p>The SMMT figures released last week showed new car registrations were the highest in more than 20 years, but the market share for new EVs shrank for a second consecutive month. The number of new electric cars coming onto the market was 21,840, a rise of 2.8 per cent on the same month in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The share of fully electric plug-in battery registrations was 24.2 per cent, down from 25.3 per cent a year ago, well short of the 33 per cent required under the government\u2019s ZEV mandate for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Industry wants the government to change the zero emissions mandate which is due to ramp up to 100 per cent for new cars and vans by 2035. Companies face fines of \u00a315,000 per vehicle below the target.<\/p>\n<p>From 2028, the UK government will also introduce a pay-per-mile road tax of 3p per mile for EVs and 1.5p for hybrids, another potential disincentive for the uptake of EVs.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said the EV market share \u201cremains disappointing\u201d even if overall volumes were growing in line with the rest of the UK\u2019s new car market.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-article-ad alignfull\"> <span class=\"inline-article-ad__title has-medium-font-size has-times-digital-w-04-font-family\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<p>\u201cGiven sales of new pure petrol and diesel cars are currently required to end in less than four years, EV uptake must accelerate rapidly,\u201d Hawes said.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\"> <\/a><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/acceptable.html\"> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese-made brands are on track to account for a fifth of new vehicles on Britain\u00e2\u0080\u0099s roads as soon as next year, according to industry experts, highlighting the challenges facing western car manufacturers. The number of Chinese companies selling into the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}