Chinese Cars Are Dominating in Asia, Africa, and South America

The real battle between traditional carmakers and Chinese manufacturers is not taking place in Europe or the United States, but in developing and low-income economies. China is steadily becoming a serious contender for consumers in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.

While headlines often focus on Chinese automakers expanding into Europe, real competition is emerging in emerging markets.

A key factor behind the success of Chinese car brands in these areas is price. Consumers in developing economies are more price-sensitive than those in wealthier countries, and Chinese vehicles are generally more affordable than their European, Japanese, Korean, and American competitors.

This cost advantage is particularly noticeable in the electric vehicle segment.

Who is winning, who is losing?

Photo by: BYD

The figures show that the main casualties of the rise of Chinese automakers such as Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Dossubashi and Suzuki have been established from Japan. Hyundai and Kia from South Korea; and Fiat, Renault, and Volkswagen from Europe. Even American manufacturers like Chevrolet and Ford have not been immune to this change.

Interestingly, this shift in consumer preference from traditional brands to Chinese is happening not in major developed economies, but in emerging markets. Although the Chinese carmaker is expanding its presence in Europe, after reaching a 5 percent market share by August 2025, it has a much stronger footprint in countries like Brazil, Thailand, Israel and even Australia.

In Brazil – Latin America’s largest automotive market – the market share of Chinese brands increased from 6.8 percent in January-September 2024 to 9.1 percent this year. Combined, their sales would rank fourth among all manufacturers, behind only Fiat, Volkswagen and Chevrolet.

While headlines often focus on Chinese automakers expanding into Europe, real competition is emerging in emerging markets.

In Australia, another major market, their share increased to nearly 17 percent by September 2025, up 5.3 percentage points from the same period in 2024.

Meanwhile, traditional automakers continue to lose ground in many of these markets. In Ukraine, for example, Toyota and Renault have overtaken BYD in market share, rising from 3 percent between January and September 2024 to 7.7 percent this year.

A similar trend is visible in Latin America and Asia. In Chile, Chevrolet is losing market share to GWM and Changan. In Colombia, BYD has entered the top 10 in Indonesia – pushing Ford, while it has climbed to sixth place.

Here’s how the market share of Chinese car brands looks in non-European or American markets:

That said, there are still markets that Chinese automakers haven’t captured much of – but are growing rapidly. In Uruguay, Chinese auto brands grew by 12.6 percent over the previous year, while Israel saw an 11.5 percent increase.

The article’s author, Felipe Munoz, is an automotive industry expert at Jeto Dynamics.