Chinese cars will take over as Britain’s best sellers
With a dramatic rise in sales, Mike Rutherford thinks it’s only a matter of time before Chinese cars outsell all other countries in the UK
If you’re after an accurate insight into the winners and losers doing battle in Britain’s new-car showrooms in 2025, look no further than the industry figures covering the period from 1 January to 30 June. They’ve just been released and, to my mind, reveal crucially important buying trends that indicate the new direction of travel among paying customers in the UK. Like never before, buyers appear to be deserting some traditional brands and countries, and gravitating towards alternative car makers and vehicle-producing nations.
Italy is one victim of the shift. Fiat, Abarth and Maserati sales are, respectively, down 24, 55 and 38 per cent so far in 2025. True, Alfa Romeo is up 50 per cent, but this is from a very low base. Brits are still buying an average of just seven Alfas a day.
As for French brands, Citroen is down 41 per cent, DS 64. Peugeot is doing much better, with a 40 per cent rise, Renault is up 16 and Alpine has jumped 49. Sales for South Korea’s Genesis, Hyundai and Kia are rising. But for most Japanese firms, they’re sliding. Only two of its small brands – Lexus (up nine) and Mazda (up 34) – have improved.
Of the Germans, Audi is down 18 per cent, BMW six and Mercedes seven. But Volkswagen is up 13 and Porsche has improved by five, thereby overtaking volume brands Citroen, Fiat and Suzuki, with Honda and SEAT likely to be passed in the coming months.
More importantly as far as Britain and its workers are concerned, the rise and rise of Porsche and its 9,531 sales in the first six months of 2025 compares with just 1,725 for arch-rival Jaguar (down 84 per cent), which hasn’t sold a single new car for months. Ineos is down 10, while Land Rover and MINI are up seven and two respectively. Low-volume Bentley (up 12) is now the fastest-growing (in percentage terms) British car firm.
But the most significant performers in the UK from January to June have been China and its car makers. Dramatic examples include BYD, whose sales are 568 per cent higher than this time last year, thereby enabling it to overtake countless firms from Britain, mainland Europe, South Korea, North America and Japan (Mazda included).
Sales for Jaecoo and Omoda have skyrocketed in 2025 from zero to several thousand each. Also just starting from scratch are Leapmotor and XPeng, who are both already selling hundreds of new models, with sales of thousands, then tens of thousands, planned. Skywell has just landed here, too. And in recent days there’s been official confirmation that the Geely and Chery brands are also en route to Blighty.
The next logical step is for China to take over as the nation that tops the UK’s new-car sales chart. With its resources and vehicles at the right retail prices, it’s not a case of if Chinese cars collectively take over as the best sellers in Britain. It’s when.
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