Chinese brands, China-built models surge in August

The growing influence on European sales of Chinese brands as well as models built in China was evident in preliminary August sales data.

Twelve of the 16 brands with the biggest sales gains in August in Europe were either from China or produce all or a large portion of their models in the country, based on preliminary figures from market researcher Dataforce.

Those winners included:

• Lotus, for which 40 of the 121 models it sold in Europe were the China-made Eletre
• Ora, led by the Funky Cat's 2,293 sales, which topped models such as the Nissan X-Trail and Renault Twingo
• BYD, led by the Atto 3's 2,559 sales. The Atto 3 beat models such as the Lancia Ypsilon and the BMW 5 Series and 4 Series
• MG, which had two models among Europe's top 50, the MG4 (No. 40) and the ZS (No. 44).

Lotus, Ora, BYD and MG all increased their total sales by triple-digit percentages or higher in August, according to data representing 95 percent of sales in the European Union, the EFTA countries and the U.K.

The figures come as the European Commission investigates whether to set punitive tariffs to protect its producers from imports of cheaper Chinese electric vehicles that it says benefit from state subsidies.

But it's not just the Chinese that are benefiting. Smart increased its sales 800 percent to 3,715, led by demand for the China-made #1.

Polestar, whose European sales rose 250 percent in August, gets all of its production from China.

A large percentage of the Tesla Model Ys and all Model 3s sold in Europe come from its Shanghai factory. Tesla also makes the Model Y at a plant near Berlin in Germany.

Other Chinese winners in August were Great Wall (+456 percent), Nio (+279 percent) and Xpeng (+115 percent).

Looking at brand sales, MG, with 14,411 sales, was No. 20 in August, ahead of Volvo, Suzuki and Mini.

BYD, with a volume of 2,685, outsold Stellantis brands Alfa Romeo and Lancia. That result seems to underline Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares' concern about his rivals from the Far East. In January he said that if politicians in Europe do not find an answer to Chinese automakers' push into Europe, there will be a "terrible fight."

Ora, at 2,293 sales, topped Subaru, SsangYong and Jaguar.

Lots of winners

Last month, 31 brands increased their European sales in the market, up from 28 brands in July.

The overall market rose 22 percent last month.

Meanwhile, while 55 brands ended the eighth month of the year with volume gains, up from 50 brands in July.

At the same time, 18 brands lost volume for the month, according Dataforce.

Non-Chinese and non-China-dependent brands that succeeded in August included Jeep (+99 percent to 8,081); Lexus (+98 percent to 3,970); Cupra (+74 percent to 16,002) and Renault (+51 percent to 39,420).

Europe’s No. 1-selling brand, VW, up 12 percent, had the third-largest absolute sales gain after Tesla and Renault with an increase of 10,217 to 102,714 sales.

There were 25 brand that recorded gains below the market's overall increase. The list included included BMW (+21 percent), Kia (+17 percent) and Toyota (+14 percent).