Chinese cars, the big winners of 2025 in the Spanish market

Throughout 2025, a total of 118,562 Chinese cars were registered in Spain, a figure that represents a market share of 10.32% of a total that reaches 1,148,650 passenger cars registered in the same period.

This figure is the result of adding up all the Chinese manufacturers that registered vehicles in Spain between January and December 2025. Among these, MG stands out with a total of 45,163 registrations and a year-on-year growth of 46.78%, as do the Jaecoo and Omoda brands, with 9,728 registrations and 7.9% and 5.9% growth, respectively, compared to the previous year. Ebro should also be included in this group; although it assembles its models at the Zona Franca facilities, the parts and materials are manufactured in China. Last year, Ebro registered 12,459 units, despite not yet having fully deployed its sales network.

The 118,562 cars from Chinese manufacturers registered in Spain during 2025 are evidence of the ongoing expansion of these manufacturers in Europe, and this is currently just the tip of the iceberg of the offensive the Asian giant has planned for the coming years. It is true that this list includes very different manufacturers, such as Leapmotor (part of the Stellantis group), MG (SAIC group), BYD (Dongfeng group), and Jaecoo, Omoda, and Ebro (Chery group), with diverse ownership and shareholders. However, they share a common thread: a rapid and massive expansion that has allowed them to carve out a niche in the Spanish market.

As an example, registrations of Chinese-made cars in Spain surpass those of Toyota and Volkswagen, are virtually tied with Korean brands (Hyundai, Kia, and KGM), and are only slightly behind the combined registrations of the three German premium brands – Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. Further ahead of the Chinese manufacturers are the combined registrations of Japanese brands (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Lexus, Mitsubishi, and Suzuki), which stand at around 177,000 units.

BYD's great commercial success deserves special mention. This Chinese manufacturer has become the leader in the plug-in hybrid car segment in Spain in 2025 and is consolidating its position as the fastest-growing brand in the country, with a year-on-year growth rate of 374% compared to 2024 registrations, reaching a virtual tie with Tesla in segment 2.

Beautiful, cheap and eco-friendly

The key to the significant growth of Chinese brands in our market lies in their market positioning, offering prices considerably lower than those of other manufacturers, without compromising perceived quality. In other words, a product like theMG ZS It becomes a well-rounded offering, with a price range between €18,500 and €24,000, featuring hybrid powertrains with an ECO label, 194 hp, and top-of-the-line finishes including leather upholstery and a 360-degree surround-view camera, among other features. Leapmotor, for its part, offers an electric vehicle like the T03 With a range of 265 kilometers and a price of 18,500 euros, excluding promotional discounts and institutional aid, this price point makes the urban electric car a real option for Catalan and Spanish drivers, whose purchasing power is much more limited than that of buyers in central and northern European countries.

Other manufacturers, such as Jaecoo, Omoda, and Ebro, have also carved out a niche in the market by focusing on a more aspirational product, with sporty and elegant designs, equipment packed with extras and luxury features, and hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains with considerable power at a significantly more competitive price than their rivals.

A very well-planned strategy

The Chinese strategy isn't very different from that employed by Japanese manufacturers during the 1990s or Korean manufacturers during the early 2000s, who positioned their products with competitive prices and technologically advanced models. What does set them apart from other Asian manufacturers, however, is the ownership of many of these industrial groups, which are controlled more or less directly by the Chinese state. This allows them the luxury of not having to seek large profit margins during the initial years of implementation in the European market. Instead, they can prioritize building a name and reputation in Europe, enabling them to construct new projects on a solid foundation in the not-too-distant future.

In this sense, the roadmap for Chinese manufacturers involves generating a brand reputation with new commercial names associated with quality and technology (BYD, Polestar, Omoda, Jaecoo or Denza) or by reviving fondly remembered historical European names such as MG, Ebro or Santana, among others.

The other pillar of China's roadmap is the opening of production centers in Europe. This would allow them to circumvent trade tariffs on Chinese-made products, leverage the accumulated knowledge of the European workforce, and, it's worth noting, access EU funding for sustainable industrial projects through mechanisms managed by Spanish authorities. For example, Ebro-Chery has already received nearly €80 million in aid through various European funding programs in recent months, and the Aragonese and Spanish governments have provided public funds to facilitate the new battery plant that CATL and Leapmotor are developing in Zaragoza.

Finally, it's worth highlighting that one of the main strengths of Chinese manufacturers is their ability to adapt to the specific characteristics of each European regional market. Being large groups with dozens of models and technologies allows them to offer the type of product that buyers in each region of Europe prefer at any given time. For example, if Catalan buyers prefer conventional hybrid vehicles and Toyota is the leading manufacturer, the Chery group can leverage its product portfolio and introduce a model like the Ebro 400, a conventional hybrid SUV priced around €25,000 or €30,000 that fits the market. Other markets with greater purchasing power and a higher share of fully electric vehicles, such as the British or German markets, are more receptive to cars from brands like Polestar or Lynk & Co.