Chinese-made cars are rapidly encroaching on the British market. The share of Chinese-made cars among new registrations, which had stayed in the single digits until last year, has topped 10% this year.
On the 17th, the New York Times (NYT) reported in an article titled "Chinese cars are racing down British roads" that "Chinese automakers such as BYD and Chery are winning over drivers in Britain, where the tariff is low and many buyers are open to new brands."
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), among new car registrations in Britain last month, about a dozen Chinese automakers, including BYD, Chery, and Geely, accounted for 13%. That figure is nearly double their market share from a year earlier.
Ian Plummer, chief commercial officer (CCO) of Auto Trader, Britain's largest online car transaction platform, said BYD and Chery are expanding their market share five to six times faster than automakers from other countries such as Tesla and Kia that previously entered the British market, adding, "This pace is something the market has never seen before."
China made a full-fledged entry into the British market in the early 2000s when Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) acquired MG, a British automaker that had gone bankrupt. SAIC then gradually moved production facilities to China, and in 2016, the MG plant in the Midlands, the center of British car manufacturing, shut down. MG brand vehicles account for about 4% of new registrations in Britain this year.
The reasons behind the rapid rise in market share for Chinese-made cars in Britain are complex, but low tariff is cited as a key factor. The United States imposes a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, effectively halting exports to the U.S., and the European Union (EU) also applies tariffs of up to 45% on Chinese battery electric vehicles. Britain, by contrast, levies only a 10% tariff on all imported cars.
Moreover, British consumers tend not to be strongly loyal to particular car brands. About 2 million new cars are sold in Britain each year, and the number of brands sold has nearly doubled since 2019 to about 70 now. There is no single brand in Britain that holds an overwhelming edge in consumer loyalty or market share, such as Germany's Volkswagen or France's Renault and Peugeot, the NYT said.
Riding the popularity of Chinese-made cars, dealership sales are also growing rapidly. Dougal Keith, who runs multiple car brand dealerships in Leeds in northern England, opened two stores for China's Changan this month on the back of the success of a BYD dealership. He said sales at his company, which operates 28 dealerships, are expected to reach about £500 million (about 985.8 billion won) next year. That would be a 50% increase from 2024.
The NYT said, "China has grown into the world's largest car exporter," adding, "Chinese automakers are deftly adapting to shifting regulations and consumer preferences, expanding their market share not only in electric vehicles but also in high-demand hybrids."