China Accounted for 35.6% of Global Automotive Market in 2025, 3 Brands in Top 10

China has accounted for up to 35.6% of the global automotive market share in 2025, with three of its brands placed in the top ten.

2025 saw the total global passenger car sales volume reaching 96.47 million units, and up to 35.6% of them came from China, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). In last year alone, the Chinese automotive market saw a total of 34.35 million passenger vehicles sold, marking a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 9% over the previous year.

This stellar sales figure also put China ahead of other top global automotive markets in terms of sales growth. For comparison, the US market only saw a mere 1% growth with 15.65 million units sold, India had 7% growth with 5.58 million units in total, and Japan had 3% growth with 4.56 million units.

Back to the Great Wall nation, the first half of 2025 alone saw China’s global automotive market share reach 36% with 15.65 million vehicles sold, with the highest share recorded in Nov 2025 with 40%.

China’s steady climb into the top of the global automotive market share started in 2022, where the share grew from 32% in the previous year to 33.5%, followed by 33.8% in 2023 and 34.2% in 2024.

To go with that, three of China’s top automotive brands have also made it into the top ten global automaker list in 2025. Top global NEV marque BYD leads the way at fifth position with 5.4% of global market share, followed by Geely at seventh with 4.6% market share and Chery at tenth with 3.7% market share.

Export numbers were also impressive for China last year, with the country recording 8.32 million vehicles exported in 2025, marking a significant YoY increase of 30% to maintain its position as the world’s largest vehicle exporter for the third consecutive year. Specifically, exports for NEV reached 3.43 million units last year—a huge 70% increase over the previous year.

As for the destinations, Mexico was the largest export market for Chinese cars last year, while market shares have also increased in other key regions such as the Middle East, Europe, as well as Central and South America.

Source: CarNewsChina