There are many options in China’s car market, and almost every one of them is finding a new home in some export market. Brands like BYD or Xiaomi may have strong sales and profits at home, but that’s the exception, not the rule. There are dozens of smaller players with big dreams and goals of global dominance outside of China, because, they can’t generate the local volume needed to hit profitability.
Often, these cars from lesser-known companies rely on exports to make up for terrible profits and sinking sales trends in their home countries. Let’s look at Neta, a Chinese brand that has been facing declining sales and financial problems in China lately. It hopes to find success by pivoting to markets such as Thailand and Brazil. But the cars themselves don’t seem to be as good as the big money brands like Geely or BYD, nor do they have the after sales support.
As Canada gains access to Chinese cars, I can’t help but wonder: Which brands come first? And if they all run through the door at once, which one will actually pull it off?
If you go down to Australia, you can start to see the answer.
Chinese auto brands have made serious inroads into Australia in recent years, filling the void left by Ford and General Motors abandoning local production. “The market share of Chinese brands in Australia is now around 17%, up from 1.7% in 2019. [tenfold] Post-Covid growth, in other words,” Cox Automotive Australia and New Zealand analyst Mike Costello said.
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Australia and Canada are similar in many ways; Both populations and put them on equal footing. Their auto markets differ in size, however, with Canada moving 1.8 million cars last year, while Australia sold just 1.2 million cars.
Geographically and geopolitically, Australia is naturally close to China. Chinese brands have been on the continent since at least the late 2000s, with Great Wall Motors launching in 2009 and then Chery in 2011. Chery left Australia in 2015, partly due to poor quality and crash safety ratings, but will later re-enter in 2023. who
Now, that 17% includes a wide range of pure gas-powered and hybrid models sold from brands like Chery or Great Wall Motors. However, when we focus on EVs, it’s clear that the Chinese contenders hold great appeal for Australians.
77% of all EVs sold in Australia in 2025 were made in China – even non-Chinese brands. Costello says 41% of Australia’s EV market is accounted for by 22 Chinese brands selling more than 30 different individual models.
When it comes to plug-in hybrid models, BYD takes the lion’s share with 68% of all models sold there. Overall, Australia’s EV market is about 8.6% of its total market, about the same as the United States but with the total US market about 15 times larger, it has far fewer brands to choose from.
However, Australia expects more Chinese brands to arrive on its shores in the near future. For example, Nio plans to expand into Australia this year with its Firefly small EV.
That’s a lot of brands. Can Australia support all those brands? China certainly cannot.
So far, they’re figuring it out in Australia. Chinese brands have learned a lot from their first forays into Western markets. Once upon a time, Great Wall Motors was known for poorly built, poorly driving trucks. Now, its line of SUVs, trucks and EVs make it Australia’s seventh most popular car brand. Cheri has seen nothing but uphill since returning to Australia.
Since last year, the brand has grown its sales by 200%, though the bulk of that growth has been attributed to sales of its gas crossover. “[Chinese brands] “It’s learning a lot, hiring better managers and dealers, making a commitment to use Australia as a place to ship more products,” Costello said. The Tesla Model Y is Australia’s best-selling EV, but the BYD Sealion 7 has moved into second place after its first year on the market.
The BYD Shark is Australia’s most popular pickup not sold to fleet buyers. BYD transferred 15,564 trucks to private owners. By comparison, Toyota sold 12,529 Hilux pickups during the same period. Impressive, especially when you consider that Toyota owns 20% of the Australian car market.
Still, Costello doesn’t see Chinese brands expanding at such a rapid pace in Australia forever. Selling wholesale cars (or vehicles, if you’re taking a less philanthropic approach) is easy, but investing in appropriate marketing, support and service networks will take time.
“Which brands will offer enough parts, enough service bays, enough good dealers, to get repeat business? Who will invest beyond wholesale inventory?” Costello said. In other words, if they really want to do this, it can’t just be about shipping cars out of China to eat up excess capacity at home.
Now, Canada has few barriers to entry here, possibly preventing dumping while protecting its domestic car manufacturing industry. While Australia has no import limits or tariffs on Chinese EVs to curb the industry, Canada still does. The country’s new agreement with China limits imported units to 49,000 to start with, rising to a maximum of 70,000 units, so Chinese brands naturally have to be selective about how they enter and what they bring. There is no real benefit to dozens of brands making a mad dash to offer a full line of products to split between the relatively small number of available spots in the market.
InsideEVs reached out to the Canadian government, but we haven’t received much clarity other than words from Transport Canada, the country’s governing body, when it comes to vehicle homologation. That agency only said that anything sold in the country must pass its crash and emissions standards. It is unclear whether there will be a limit on the number of brands or which brands can go first.
But when Chinese cars arrive in Canada, it’s clear they’ll be successful. Just ask Australia.
Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com
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