​Last year was the best year ever for Chinese cars in the EU, with a total of over 670,000 new cars imported from China. ACEA figures show that the value of new car imports from China exceeded €12.8 billion last year.

Imports of new cars to the EU rose by 24% to 3.34 million last year, with a fifth of those coming from China. In particular, 676,000 new cars were imported from China, compared to 484,000 in 2022, according to ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association).

The figure also includes cars from European brands that are assembled in China, but the majority belong to Chinese brands such as MG, BYD or Great Wall, BAIC, Nio or DFSK.

More than 514,000 vehicles arrived in the EU from Turkey, 447,000 from Japan, 430,000 from South Korea and 382,000 from Morocco (where several Dacia, Tangier and Casablanca models are produced).

Last year, the European Union exported more than 4.7 million cars, which is half a million more than in 2022.

EU countries are seeking a solution to limit car imports from China on the grounds that cars are produced in the Asian country at abnormally low prices, as the Chinese state subsidizes car production with billions of dollars. Many have also protested that many “made in China” models benefit from subsidies that European governments give to electric car buyers.

In the EU, it would be impossible to produce electric cars with such low costs as in China, where there are also all-electric models for less than 12,000 euros.