China Beats US In Global Car Sales In Industry First

(Bloomberg) -- China’s carmakers outsold their US counterparts for the first time last year, a testament to the shifting power dynamics in the global auto market.

Brands led by BYD sold 13.4 million new vehicles last year, beating the 11.9 million units delivered by American brands such as Ford and Chevrolet, researcher Jato Dynamics said Thursday. Japanese brands maintained their lead over the rest of the industry.

Chinese manufacturers’ market share soared across the Middle East, Eurasia and Africa, with the likes of SAIC Motor Corp. and Geely also making inroads in more mature markets such as Europe and Australia.

“Negligence from legacy automakers, which has resulted in consistently high car prices, has inadvertently driven consumers toward more affordable Chinese alternatives,” Jato analyst Felipe Munoz said.

China’s carmakers are increasingly turning to exports after seizing control of their home market, where an electric-vehicle price war is weighing on earnings. Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk warned in January that Chinese companies will “pretty much demolish” most other manufacturers if trade barriers aren’t erected.

The European Union’s move this week to impose additional tariffs on EVs imported from China may convince BYD and its peers to expand further in emerging markets, where they’re already doing well and trade barriers are lower, Munoz said. 

EVs made by Chinese brands accounted for just under 9% of fully electric vehicles sold in Europe last year, according to Dataforce.

The US did manage to snag one big win last year, with Tesla’s Model Y becoming the best-selling vehicle worldwide. Deliveries of the sport utility vehicle jumped 64% to 1.22 million units, beating out Toyota Motor Corp.’s RAV4 SUV.

Japanese brands were the best overall performers, making seven of the ten best-selling models and delivering around 23.6 million cars in total. European brands ranked second last year.

(Updates with data on Chinese EVs in seventh paragraph.)

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