In the past few years, Chinese vehicles have become a formidable threat to established manufacturers, particularly in the SUV space.

But just how significant are these sales figures?

We compared the first quarter sales of all Chinese brands, from 2020, 2023 and 2025, and although these brands have yet to command a lion’s share of the market, their share of the sales pie is growing rapidly.

Chinese car and light commercial vehicle sales, as reported to Naamsa, amounted to just 3,247 units in the first quarter of 2020, accounting for 2.78% of the total vehicle market.

By Q1 2023, this share had grown to 6,98% of the total vehicle market, from 9,559 unit sales, and by the first quarter of this year, the Chinese brand share was 11.81%, with 17,003 sales.

Keep in mind that these percentages are based solely on the manufacturers that report sales to Naamsa, and some recently introduced brands, such as GAC, MG and LDV, are missing from that picture.

But how much thunder are they stealing from the premium brands?

Our analysis shows that BMW sales have remained relatively consistent over the past five years, with Q1 sales amounting to an estimated 2,898 units in 2020, 4,017 in 2023 and 3,777 in 2025.

Mercedes has lost considerable ground though, falling from 4,751 unit sales in Q1 2020 to 2,039 in 2023 and just 1,274 in 2025.

Growth of Chinese brands

In 2020, Haval was the only Chinese product selling volumes of any significance, accounting for 3,078 sales in Q1. It gained further prominence in late 2021 when the Jolion was released, which was the first Chinese product to ever sell in the region of 1,000 units per month.

Chery entered the picture that year and achieved similar success with the Tiggo 4 Pro, which helped the brand achieve sales of 4,210 units in Q1 2023, albeit still behind Haval’s overall volume of 5,105.