Volkswagen was the infiltrated brand that reigned in China. Until it was rolled by a train called byd

China is eating the European car. Whether electric, hybrid or combustionit is increasingly common to see them in the streets despite the Tariffs imposed by the European Union. There are already A good number of available modelsto which we will have to add those of brands that have not yet finished landing. But that volume increase does not occur only in Europe: it also occurs within its market.

And if we see the evolution of car sales in China, there are some absolutely demolving data that can be summarized in a Volkswagen who led with iron hand and could not see the great wave of byd.

National upward production. It is evident that China has put the batteries producing cars. Taking the data From the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2024 31,282 million vehicles were produced and 31,436 million were sold. This represents an interannual growth of 3.7% and 4.5% respectively. This has allowed China to maintain its position as the largest automotive market in the world, something that has held for 16 years.

New energy. Within those figures, the production and sales of Nev vehicles, or New Energy Vehicle stands out. It is a term that It encompasses the electric, hybrids and electric with hydrogen fueland the production and sales relationship in 2024 was 12,888 and 12,866 million respectively. It represents an increase of 34.4% and 35.5% compared to the previous year and 40.9% of all sales of new vehicles in the country.

The Byd sorpasso. To further break down the figures, 60% of that total sales of NEV vehicles correspond to the electric ones, being a sector in which a national brand has established itself at a meteoric speed: Byd. In this chart with the top 10 of sales of new vehicles per manufacturer we can appreciate how Byd did not paint anything in 2020 and, from 2021, he experienced a vertiginous ascent:

No matter the metric that we follow. Month by month, the data of the Gasgoo platform lets us see that ByD leads in sales by brand or by manufacturer. They are figures that we could take from any month of 2024, but focusing on December, we can see that Byd is far from their main rivals: also Chinese Chery and Geely:

Volkswagen can’t lose. In the graph we see that there is an absolute prominence of Chinese brands that They eat toast to Japanese like Honda or Nissan. However, there are two foreigners They stay well. On the one hand, Toyota, which although in third place, maintains consistent sales since 2017. On the other, the Volkswagen Group.

According to CAM data for manufacturers, from sales of 4,192,356 vehicles in 2017, they go to 2,808,578. It is a monumental fall in an environment in which other brands are maintained or grow. Byd is the one that has stolen the first position and, although they remain in second place, you have to see what happens in 2025 with Groups as powerful as Geely.

The German group is very involved in the Chinese market and in recent years it has launched plans to “copy” your work methods And even his approaches, Like extended rank electric. All with hope not to stay in a very important market for thembut not to lose more land in the European.

IMPORTANCE OF EXPORTS. Because the idea of ​​Chinese companies is to continue tightening not already inside, but out of its borders. Saic, owners of Mg, They have the world’s largest ro-ro to bring their cars to international markets. It has capacity for 9,500 cars per trip and Byd also has a huge bureaucoches and the intention of add up to your fleet.

As we see in Shanghai Metal Marketsince 2021, car exports have increased year after year. In 2024 they were 19.3% higher than in the previous period, reaching 5,859 million units, 433,000 were by, assuming a year -on -year growth of 71.8%.

As we say, you have to wait to see the photo of 2025 already entered in 2026, but the trend of both sales and export of Chinese cars is up How will European brands respond And yes, despite all Byd is showing signs of weakness How can your latest sales aim.

Images and Graph | Felix Hamer, Eyaut Waihung

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