Sales figures for China only state those made there with imported models ignored. Individual manufacturers often release data with imported cars included but official figures eschew such information. This plus high import duty on imports to 'protect' local manufacturing indicates to me that imported goods are not really welcome.
So the list below doesn't include imported vehicles which will lower some imported brands figures, premium ones mainly, as they are less affected by the obstructive tariffs applied to imports. It's also a Top 50 list so any brands below that threshold are not shown. That keeps the list more manageable as there are a plethora of local brands vying with each other.
As for colour coding, yellow is local brands, green is other Asian brands and blue represents Europe and the US. The +/- column shows 100% as equal to the previous year so BYD was actually up 55% in 2023. The 2024 figure is comparing half of 2024 with a complete 2023 so 50% would be on target to equal 2023. BYD is slightly up at 53% and VW is some way short of 2023 with 41%.
Chinese brands so far are definitely faring better in 2024 than foreign ones. Lack of quality used to mean local cars were not so sought after but there has been a real effort to improve in that area. Price could also be swinging buyers that way too.
Things aren't so rosy for importers. As an example, GM's share of the market in China has fallen to its lowest level since 2003. It usually makes a profit here but for the first quarter of 2024, it lost just over $100 million. Buick has fallen to 20th place and Chevrolet isn't in the top 50. Is GM thinking of exiting the market? They may not be alone in contemplating that.
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