How have the sales of Chinese cars evolved in Romania, after the launch of the most famous brand last year. In January 2026, a first spectacular leap is already registered: “Invasion is a metaphor”
Chinese car sales almost tripled last year in Romania, many brands were launched, including the most famous name, considered a rival for Tesla Motors. The Chinese market share is still quite small, but “Chinese producers are very ambitious”, says the head of the Romanian Producers and Importers Association, Dar Vardie.
In Romania, 6,035 cars of Chinese brands were registered last year, compared to 2,200 in 2024, according to data sent to HotNews.ro by APIA (Association of Automobile Manufacturers and Importers).
A record year for Chinese brands, but market share remains low
The share of these cars reached 3.9% last year, compared to 1.5% in 2024. It would have been somewhat higher if the Rabla program in Romania had not started so late (end of September) and if the subsidy for full-electric cars had not been so low (3,700 euros). While in Europe, sales of full-electric cars increased by 29%, in Romania they decreased by 10%.
The clear leader for Chinese brands was MG, with 3,396 cars, followed by BYD, with 900 cars registered in 2025. The top 5 was completed by Geely (627 cars), Chery (464) and Leapmotor (303). The DFSK and Lynk&Co brands have crossed the 100 car mark.
Wave of new entries on the Romanian market
In the last year, several Chinese car brands were launched in Romania, the most famous being BYD (launched in May 2025) and Chery (launched last summer) and Geely (last fall). By the end of 2024, two more brands had entered: Lynk & Co and Leapmotor.
No Chinese brand made it into the top 10 last year, but in January 2026 BYD came in at number 9, surpassing even Renault last month in sales. BYD had 312 registered cars, and the BYD Seal U model was 9th in the top of the best-selling cars, a ranking led by Dacia Duster.
Across Europe, car sales of Chinese brands rose 44 percent last year, with the biggest jump for BYD, which also had Europe's best-selling plug-in hybrid (the Seal UDM-i model, with 72,000 units), JATO data shows.
“The figures show a natural evolution”
Hotnews asked Dan Vardie – the general director of APIA – if we are facing an invasion” of Chinese brands, a term often used in the media in recent years. “The invasion thing is a metaphor for the media. We don't think it's an invasion, but an act of normality, it's a natural evolution. Chinese manufacturers are very ambitious, they have succeeded in dethroning Tesla from the position of world leader, so these ambitions are not without technological substance. They are products with indisputable qualities: design, technology, quality of materials, all are very competitive. (…) The figures show a natural evolution. Sales of Chinese brands have not exploded, but they are not modest either.”
The head of APIA also mentioned that the BYD Dolphin Surf electric model was designated the Car of the Year 2026 in Romania (Dacia Bigster was in second place, and the Renault 5 model was in third)
“I think you have seen that the European Commission has moved to the next stage, a minimum price is being discussed, it is no longer being discussed to maintain these high taxes. This is the reality, a memorandum was signed, and in the coming months they will clarify what the minimum price means”, says the head of APIA, referring to the China-Europe discussions on the taxes imposed in the EU for cars produced in China.
Hybrids, SUVs and small city cars
What kind of cars did the Chinese brands bring to Romania? There were many SUVs, in terms of propulsion, they brought many hybrids, and in the last year, smaller, city models also arrived on the market.
The best-selling models of Chinese brands in Romania were two from MG (ZS and HS), with 1,591 and 1,262 units, respectively. Seal U from BYD had 470 copies, and BYD Dolphin Surf, Dacia Logan's competitor, had 219 registrations.
Three other models “ticked” good numbers: Geely Coolray (311 units), Leapmotor T03 (284) and Cherry Tiggo 7 (248 cars).
The cheapest hybrid and full-electric models in China cost under 20,000 euros, and the most expensive exceed 70,000 euros.
Who are the two big names
MG and BYD are the Chinese brands with the highest notoriety in Europe and also have the highest sales figures. SAIC (the group that MG is part of) sold 305,000 cars in Europe last year, more than brands such as Fiat or Nissan, ACEA data shows. The second most famous name in China, BYD sold 187,000 cars (more than three times more than in 2024).
MG – the Chinese company that sells the most in Europe (including Romania) – is a brand with British “roots”. MG Motor Europe started its sales operations in late 2019 on the continent, and is launching in France in 2020. From December 2023 it is also in Romania.
MG cars are made in China, but also have ties to Europe, where some of the design and engineering operations take place.
The event of the year from the point of view of Chinese brands was the launch of the BYD brand in the spring of 2025, BYD being a famous brand because in many press articles it is considered a rival to Tesla. BYD annually sells more than 4 million cars in the world, bets a lot on hybrids and builds factories in Hungary and Turkey.
BYD had 20 sales points in the country at the end of last year and wants to open another 14 new points in 2026 and will launch several new models. The first was presented in February: the Sealion 5 DMi plug-in hybrid SUV.
The market shares of Chinese brands are much higher in Europe than in Romania
Figures from research firm Dataforce show that in December 2025, the Chinese reached a record 10% share of the European car market, surpassing 100,000 units sold in a single month. In “electrified” cars (full electric and hybrid), the Chinese share reached 16% in the last month of last year on the European market.
The countries where Chinese cars have been very successful – and therefore above average market share – are Spain, Italy and Greece.
The Chinese, Europe and taxes
In the summer of 2024, after much negotiation, the first clear things were established about the customs duties imposed in the EU on electric cars produced in China. From the end of 2024, Chinese cars brought into Europe will be taxed additionally, by up to 35%, after the EU decided to sanction the fact that they are built with substantial subsidies from the state and end up being sold in the Union at unreasonably low prices. Chinese brands adapted and brought dozens of Full Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid models to Europe, because they were not charged extra.
In January 2026, the Chinese authorities held in-depth discussions with EU decision-making bodies, and the plan is for the additional tariffs imposed in 2024 to be replaced by a minimum selling price. However, the subject is being negotiated, but if the planned changes become a reality, the taxes paid by Chinese manufacturers would be lower, but minimum prices would also be established that would not be lower than those of electric cars of similar size, but produced in Europe.
The Chinese hope to do in Europe what brands like Hyundai and Kia did 15-20 years ago. They come with an extended warranty, they promise good quality, the interiors don't look bad, there are also various technologies on the cars, and the prices are, in some cases, 15-20% lower than similar sized cars from established brands.
In addition, they also come with all kinds of marketing “tricks”, and one example is the karaoke system integrated into the car's multimedia system, so song lyrics can be displayed on the central screen on the dashboard.
