Chinese cars in the EU
Current trends and driving factors
Over the past years, the presence of Chinese vehicles in the EU market has increased continuously. At the same time, the number of EU vehicles sold in the Chinese market, either produced locally or imported to the Chinese market, has consistently dropped from the record high volumes of the 2000s and 2010s, raising concerns on the competitiveness of the EU automotive industry.
In 2024, China replaced the EU as the world’s largest car exporter [1] and Chinese vehicles accounted for 17% of the total value of vehicles imported in the EU. This percentage reached 55% for Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) (Figure 1).
Moreover, the dependence of the EU's automotive industry on Chinese imports has more than doubled (2.4 times) from 2010 to 2022 and in 2024 China accounted 40% of the total vehicle manufacturing capacity compared to 15% of the EU and the US [1].
The media often indicate the ambitious EU climate policy as a root cause of this trend, however such statements are rarely corroborated by data.
CALDAROLA Bernardo;
CIUFFO Biagio;
CONFRARIA Hugo;
DE PRATO Giuditta;
DIAZ RINCON Andrea;
FABIANI Josefina;
FAKO Peter;
FONTARAS Georgios;
GENTY Aurelien;
GRUENING Carsten;
KRAUSE Jette;
KRISTON Akos;
MANARA Dario;
MARTINI Giorgio;
MATHIEUX Fabrice;
MINARINI Fabrizio;
TAZI Nacef;
NINDL Elisabeth;
NUR Jamil;
ONUTU Zoe;
PAFFUMI Elena;
PFRANG Andreas;
SIGNORELLI Serena;
SZCZUKA Conrad;
TUEBKE Alexander;
2026-03-09
European Commission
JRC144402
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC144402,
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