US resists rapid global expansion of Chinese BEV market share

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) made in China are taking up increasingly large proportions of sales around the world since 2018, Benchmark data reveals.

Despite the failure of a number of Chinese BEV manufacturers to achieve their sales targets in 2025 – BYD and Li Auto were both among those who cut targets during the year – there has been significant overall growth of EVs made in China sold in Western nations, as well as in Japan and South Korea.

Dominance in Mexico and Australia

Most striking is the growth in market share in Mexico where, since the first sales of China-made BEVs in 2022, they came to represent 89% of all BEVs bought in the country by last year, selling more than 53,000 of the 59,800 units sold. Australia saw similarly dramatic growth, peaking at 82% in 2023.

US bucks the trend

The most notable exception to the trend is the US, where in 2025 Chinese products accounted for less than a percentage point of the BEVs sold. Protectionist measures under both the Biden and Trump administrations have effectively banned Chinese imports in the sector, and the US produced 68% of its own BEVs in 2025. A total of 84% came from North American production more broadly, as assessed by the Benchmark EV and Battery Service.

Chinese BEVs do not yet compose the majority of sales in any of the largest European economies. France’s trajectory is particularly notable as a further example of government action. Diverging from trends in nearby nations after 2023, the rapid growth of China-made BEV market share to 31% to that point was followed by a drop of almost half, falling to 16% in 2024.

That shift followed changes to the country’s Bonus Ecologique scheme subsidising zero-emissions vehicles including the implementation of an ‘environmental score’ requiring lower emissions in a vehicle’s manufacture for it to qualify. That meant a range of Chinese vehicles – as well as others including the Tesla Model 3 and Dacia Spring – were no longer eligible going into 2024.

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