The United States is bucking the global trend when it comes to sales of Chinese-made electric vehicles, which have gained market share in most parts of the world, new data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence has found.
In Mexico, where the first Chinese-made EVs went on sale in 2022, said vehicles now account for 89% of all battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) sold on the market, accounting for more than 53,000 of 59,800 units sold in 2025.
Australia has also reported significant adoption, with Chinese models accounting for 82% of EV sales at their peak in 2023.
US sales
In the US, however, where tariffs and other protectionist measures have limited the sale of Chinese imports, Chinese-made EVs accounted for just 1% of total BEV sales last year, with more than two thirds (68%) of BEVs domestically produced, and 84% produced across North America as a whole.
In Europe, penetration has varied from country to country, however ‘Chinese BEVs do not yet compose the majority of sales in any of the largest European economies,’ Benchmark Mineral Intelligence noted.
In France, Chinese-made BEVs accounted for close to a third (31%) of sales in 2023, however government actions saw that share drop by nearly half, to 16% in 2024.
‘That shift followed changes to the country’s Bonus Ecologique scheme subsidising zero-emissions vehicles, including the implementation of an ‘environmental score requiring lower emissions in a vehicle’s manufacture for it to qualify,’ Benchmark Mineral Intelligence added. ‘That meant a range of Chinese vehicles – as well as others including the Tesla Model 3 and Dacia Spring – were no longer eligible going into 2024.’
Several Chinese BEV manufacturers failed to achieve their sales targets last year, it added, with BYD and Li Auto among those to scale their targets back. However, despite this, sales of Chinese BEVs remain ‘significant’ on a global level. Read more here.
