Chinese Cars Outsell Japanese Cars For The First Time In Europe, Australia

It’s no surprise that Chinese automakers are making huge strides in the Philippines, and in some places, they’ve begun to overtake Japanese brands in a few key regions. These include the European Union, along with Australia.

Chinese Brands Outsell Japanese Brands In EU

One of those regions is the European Union (EU), as Nikkei reports. The publication cites sales data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) for May, which revealed that the sales figures of five Chinese brands, namely BYD, SAIC Motor, Geely, Chery, and Leapmotor, rose 65 percent year-on-year to 138,410 units. In contrast, the combined sales figures of the Japanese brands, which are composed of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, Mazda, and Mitsubishi, slipped by 3 percent to 130,424 units.

BYD is undeniably one of the leaders in terms of sales in the EU. The Chinese automaker was only added to ACEA’s tracking in July 2025, but for the past 11 months, the brand experienced non-stop growth. SAIC Motor (MG) also had an impressive run, because the Sino-British automaker experienced year-on-year sales growth in 17 out of the past 24 months.

As for vehicles by powertrain type in the EU, electrified vehicles now outpace pure internal combustion engine cars, which have a market share of 30 percent. Broken down into gasoline and diesel, the former owns 22.4 percent of the market, while diesel’s market share has shrunk to 7.6 percent. Hybrids accounted for 37.8 percent of sales, while plug-in hybrids had a smaller 9.7 percent share. Pure electric vehicles (EVs) had a 20 percent market share. Combined, these three electrified vehicles now account for 67.5 percent of the overall European car market.

Chinese-Built Cars Outsell Japanese-Made Cars In Australia

Over in Australia, Chinese cars–or at least Chinese-built cars–have begun surpassing Japanese cars. The main takeaway here is the country of manufacturing origin rather than the brand itself.

Drive reports that Chinese-built cars have outsold Japanese-built cars for the past five consecutive months, ending June 2026. 46,592 Chinese-made cars were sold for the month of June versus 27,098 Japanese-built cars were sold. Take note, however, that the Japanese brands also have other manufacturing bases, primarily in Thailand. With that in mind, Thailand-manufactured cars are in third, with 23,297 vehicles sold in June.

It’s also worth noting that Tesla may be an American EV manufacturer, but it sources its Australian-market cars in China, with the exception of the German-made Model Y Performance. The Model Y has been Australia’s best-selling car in May and June 2026.

On a per-brand basis, however, Toyota remains the best-selling automaker in Australia. In second place is BYD, which has a surprisingly narrow gap of just 243 units between it and Toyota in their June sales data. For the first half of 2026, Toyota remained on top with 95,141 units, which is a decline of 21.4 percent. Meanwhile, BYD is in second place with 52,335 units, which represents a massive 124.1 percent growth. GWM (7th) and Chery (8th) are two other Chinese brands in the top 10, with both models experiencing rapid growth as well. Tesla, which imports all but the Model Y Performance from China, is the country’s 10th best-selling brand.