China’s Auto Rise: BYD, SAIC & Geely Break into Top 10 Global Car Brands 2025

Chinese automakers are rapidly gaining global market share, with three brands now ranking among the world’s ten best-selling, according to data released this week. Toyota Motor Corporation remains the global leader, with sales exceeding 11 million vehicles, followed by Volkswagen Group.

Hyundai Motor Group and General Motors continue to hold the third and fourth positions, respectively. Stellantis Group secured fifth place with over 5.4 million units sold, bolstered by an 11% year-on-year increase in the second half of the year.

The most significant shift comes from the rise of Chinese manufacturers. BYD Auto, SAIC Motor, and Geely Holdings all improved their rankings, displacing Nissan from the top ten. BYD climbed to sixth place with 4.602 million vehicles sold in 2025, surpassing Tesla to turn into the world’s leading seller of all-electric vehicles, with 2.2567 million pure electric vehicle sales – a 27.86% year-on-year increase.

Government support within China is playing a key role in the success of its automakers. A vehicle trade-in program generated over 2.6 trillion yuan in sales in 2025, benefiting approximately 360 million consumers, with over 11.5 million vehicles exchanged, according to China’s Ministry of Finance.

“China’s global market share rose to 40% in November and remained healthy at 37% in December 2025. For the entire year, China’s automotive market share reached 35.6% globally, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from 34.2% in 2024,” stated Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the China Passenger Car Association.

SAIC and Geely have overtaken Ford and Honda in the list of the world’s ten best-selling car brands. The rankings for 2025 are as follows: Toyota (11.32 million units), Volkswagen (8.98 million units), Hyundai (7.27 million units), General Motors (6.18 million units), Stellantis (5.48 million units), BYD (4.6 million units), SAIC (4.51 million units), Ford (4.4 million units), Geely (4.12 million units), and Honda (3.52 million units).