NEW DELHI: Sales of Chinese hybrid cars have rocketed in the EU in the past four and a half years, data shows, underlining growing concerns in Brussels over the future of the European car industry, according to a report in The Guardian.
In 2022, just 659 Chinesemade fully hybrid cars (vehicles in which the petrol or diesel engine charge the motor and battery) were sold in the EU. However, after Brussels imposed anti-subsidy tariႇs on fully electric cars from China in 2024, sales of hybrids have shot up to 160,662 in the first seven months of this year.
Eurostat figures show that sales of Chinese-made plugin hybrid vehicles – models popular for longer driving distances that can recharge via both the fuel engine and an external power source – have also soared, rising from 56,706 sold in 2022 to 217,764 from January to July this year.
The volume of Chinese hybrids on the roads is now spooking the car industry and Brussels, which has asked China to voluntarily reduce its hybrid exports to the EU or face safeguards.
Trade safeguards On September 24 the German car industry for the ¿rst time indicated it would be willing to consider tariffis on Chinese hybrids speci¿cally. The German Association of the Automotive Industry, VDA, called on the European Commission to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the impact of any trade safeguards, which can range from quotas to price Àoors and taries.
According to new figures released by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), hybrid cars now account for almost 37 per cent of the overall market, with electric cars making up just over 21 per cent of the market.
Earlier this month, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, described the now €1.18bna-day trade deficit between the bloc and China as having reached an unsustainable “tipping point”.
The EU’s trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao will meet in October to try to build a truce. Trump agreed in South Korea last October to drop tariႇs on certain Chinese imports in exchange for a suspension of China’s export restriction on rare earths, critical to the car industry across the US, EU and the UK.
Triple-digit growth
T hree Chinese manufacturers – BYD, Chery and Leapmotor – are making signi¿cant inroads with triple-digit growth in the EU.
A fourth firm, Geely, has had a steady per cent increase in the first eight months of the year and remains the most popular Chinese brand in the EU, with 205,000 cars sold in the first eight months of the year. Its brands include Sweden’s Volvo and Polestar, the EU’s only allelectric car manufacturer.
BYD is catching up with Geely, with sales rocketing by 163 per cent year on year with 177,000 units sold.
Both ¿rms, along with a fifth Chinese manufacturer, SAIC, are now ¿rmly ahead of Elon Musk’s Tesla, which sold 142,000 cars across the bloc in the first seven months of the year.
