Chinese cars in Germany are … sightseeing. At the moment they do not exceed 0.2% of all vehicles. Specifically: According to the latest data on January 2025, Germany circulates a total of 49.3 million cars in Germany, of which only 70,046 are of Chinese origin. Of these, the largest market share of the MG Rowee car industry, with 49,557 vehicles.

The Chinese automaker may therefore compete with the corresponding German in international markets and want to flood Europe, but it does not yet have a strong presence in the German market itself. As the German News Agency (DPA), Stefan Bracel expert, even points out in the German News Agency (DPA), and even the case of MG Roewe, belonging to the Chinese SAIC group, is special. And this is because many Germans do not even know that it is a Chinese automaker or still confuse it with the British company that the Chinese had redeemed decades ago.

Statistics’ imperfections?

MG Rowee is followed by Lynk and Great Wall Motor (GWM), which has available to the German market of 6,000 cars, while the Chinese byd has sold 4,500 cars. About 1,700 sales are recorded by NIO and only a few hundred by the other Chinese automakers, such as Aiways, Xpeng, Leapmotor and Maxus. However, the recording is not considered complete, as there are many companies with few sales that do not even appear as a separate category in statistics, but are part of the “various …” category.

In addition, the number of Chinese vehicles in statistics would increase significantly if we took into account the “Chinese companies in the broad sense”, for example Polestar and Volvo, which now belong to the Geely Group. In the same category, however, Smarts, which are now a Joint Venture of German Mercedes-Benz with Geely, could join.

With the “flag” the electric drive

The point that stands out in statistics is that most of the Chinese vehicles circulating on German roads (50,196, ie 72% of the total) are electric. There are more and more, but sales are slowly proceeding. And even though experts estimate that Chinese vehicles are not lacking in quality. But there are some inhibitors that make it difficult to penetrate the German market.

First and foremost is the incomplete network of authorized distributors and repairers. The customer faces difficulties when he wants to exchange his old car with a new one or discuss some funding solutions. In addition, when there are shortages in the network of dealers, many businesses are reluctant to choose these automakers for corporate vehicles. “Chinese manufacturers have underestimated how complicated the German market is,” says Stefan Bracel, stressing that, to establish, systematic occupation and patience is required.

Marketing errors

Ferdinard Dundenohoff, also a car expert, says that Chinese automakers have not yet been adapted to market data. “They do not understand Europe or clients in Germany,” he says. “Take BYD, for example: loaded a few thousand cars on a ship, made a good advertising campaign at the European Football Championship, made a good deal with a car rental company and thinks this is enough to do well.”

But this is not so easy, Dudenchofer points out. “To us most drivers are well aware of the brand they trust and do not change it for no reason. In China things may be different, after all, many drivers do not have much experience, nor have they been connected to a particular brand for many years. “

For Stefan Bracell, another problem for Chinese manufacturers is that they have not formed a specific strategy for their penetration into the German market. This may also be due to their increased confidence, which drives companies such as BYD and NIO, for example, to invest mainly in the premium category. “Sometimes they want to show how good their models are and they raise prices respectively,” Bracell says. “But here many customers still maintain doubts about a Chinese model, so they have to download their prices.” Kia and Hyundai had previously followed, which helped them to establish themselves in the German market.

Curated by: Yiannis Papadimitriou