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(Bloomberg) -- Five years of rapid European growth for Chinese electric-car manufacturers ground to a halt in 2024, as trade barriers added to the challenge of building up sales in a stagnant market.
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Brands led by SAIC Motor Corp.’s MG registered 3.5% fewer EVs in the region for all of 2024, according to data from automotive researcher Dataforce, marking their first annual drop since entering the market. In all, carmakers that also include BYD Co. and Xpeng Inc. captured about an 8.5% share.
December marked the second month of added European Union tariffs imposed after the bloc found that state aid provided an unfair advantage for all Chinese-made EVs.
Across Europe, Chinese carmakers held onto 8.2% of the EV market in December — a slight bump up from November but still below the average. The data covers EU countries, the UK and European Free Trade Association members like Norway.
The added EU levies, which bring duties to over 45% in the case of MG, began to have an impact in the marketplace earlier in the year.
Originally scheduled to take effect in early July, the tariffs were subject to heated negotiations and multiple changes before implementation. They remain a source of contention, even among non-Chinese carmakers that were affected, with Tesla Inc. and BMW AG filing lawsuits to stop them.
MG, the former British brand whose parent SAIC is state controlled, has meanwhile lost its European sales lead among Chinese brands, as volumes fell off sharply after a June inventory push to beat the then-deadline.
BYD has kept up its steady push into the region despite being subject to a 17% add-on to the standard 10% EU import duty. The company has expanded into Greece and partnered with French car-leasing firm Ayvens SA to bolster its position with corporate customers.
The manufacturer is pushing ahead with plans to build a factory in Hungary to help it sidestep the new tariffs, and is also planning a $1 billion plant in Turkey, which has a customs-union agreement with the EU that would make BYD cars built there exempt from levies.
Other companies are also pressing ahead. Upstart Xpeng Inc. has firmed up its spot in third behind MG and BYD with a push into EV-friendly countries including Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, according to Dataforce analyst Julian Litzinger.