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China-made EVs win a growing number of European consumers, despite EU’s levying unfair tariffs_我的网站

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    Visitors view an Xpeng electric vehicle at Expo Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia, June 13, 2026. This year's expo was held here from Saturday to Sunday. Chinese automakers including BYD, XPeng, AVATR and JAC Motors have made appearances with their products at the expo. (Photo: Xinhua)
China-made electric vehicles (EVs) accounted for 14.2 percent of European market sales in the first five months of 2026 despite the EU's steep tariffs. The growth showed that trade‑protectionist barriers can only serve as short‑lived obstacles, as consumers' purchasing choice ultimately hinges on product competitiveness and China's EV strengths will support the automakers' long‑term growth, Chinese experts said.
The market share of electric cars sold by Chinese companies rose to 14.2 percent in European market in the first five months of this year, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. The 171,800 EVs sold there represented an increase in market share of five percentage points from one year earlier, the Guardian reported on Sunday.
The increase in European sales comes despite EU tariffs of up to 35.3 percent for EVs made by some Chinese manufacturers, on top of the standard 10-percent import duty. The UK is the largest European market for Chinese cars because London has declined to follow the EU's lead in imposing more levies. The UK accounted for a quarter of Chinese EV sales in Europe, according to the report.
Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, told the Global Times on Monday that the surge showed trade protectionist policies have failed to contain Chinese automakers' overseas expansion.
Chinese EVs enjoy "a generational edge" over Europe's legacy carmakers. Their overall product strength remains the primary reason behind their popularity among European buyers, Cui said.
Meanwhile, fluctuating global oil prices have pushed up driving costs throughout Europe, fueling demand for affordable electric vehicles, a need well‑met by the affordable Chinese‑made models. Meanwhile, the gradual return of European electric‑vehicle purchase subsidies has lowered purchase barriers and lifted total EV sales, which has in turn worked to the advantage of Chinese exporters, Cui Dongshu said.
Chinese brands expanded their market share in Europe in the first half of 2026 driven by local subsidies and higher oil prices, Fitch Ratings said in a report sent to the Global Times.
The combined market share of leading Chinese brands in the EU, European Free Trade Association and UK rose to 11 percent in the first half of this year, up from 7 percent in the first half of 2025. The largest Chinese players, Geely Group (including Volvo Car) and SAIC Motor, expanded steadily despite the tariffs. The main drivers of market share gains were BYD, Chery and Leap Motor, according to Fitch Ratings.
Cui Dongshu noted that China's EV edge comes from its full‑fledged industrial ecosystem.
Officials from China's Ministry of Commerce told a press conference on July 28 that China boasts a complete, high‑efficiency EV industrial chain covering raw materials, auto parts, finished cars and production equipment, with industry clusters enabling rapid component supplies. China's huge market, the world's largest, has fueled 11 consecutive years of EV sales.
"Protectionism can only put up short‑term entry barriers. It cannot erase the solid strengths of Chinese EVs or stop Chinese brands from establishing a lasting foothold in Europe," Cui Dongshu said.
Yet, geopolitical risks remain as the EU reportedly considers expanding tariffs to restrict Chinese plug-in hybrid EVs.
German media Handelsblatt reported on June 19 that the EU is drawing up new measures to shield its single market more tightly against Chinese imports in the near future, citing senior EU officials and industry insiders. Specifically, the plan could contain countervailing duties to be levied on Chinese‑made plug‑in hybrids.
The rising market share of Chinese‑brand EVs amid EU tariffs has demonstrated that trade barriers cannot distort market choices. If the EU carries out its planned countervailing duties on Chinese plug‑in hybrids, the measure will yield only limited results, Cui Hongjian, a professor at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Monday.
Europe's problems stem from weak competitiveness and flawed energy policies. The EU ought to cast aside its confrontational mindset, remove unfair restrictions and pursue consultations and cooperation with China. Shifting industrial‑sector conflicts outward cannot remedy the weaknesses of its EV sector and will only damage the EU's reputation for destroying free trade, Cui Hongjian said.
。         A group photo from the 1999 donation ceremony, where Ronald Sakolsky presents $5,000 for afforestation efforts. Photo: Courtesy of Luoyang No.2 Foreign Language School
At 2:48 am on early Sunday morning, after a flight of more than 10 hours, Ronald Sakolsky arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport. As he stepped into the arrivals hall, he greeted the waiting reporters with earnest Putonghua "Wo hui lai le," meaning "I'm back."
The thrill of his homecoming had washed over him most vividly during the final moments of his flight. "When I saw the lights in Beijing as we were landing is when I realized that I am back in my second home."
Sakolsky, an American retired teacher from Pennsylvania, is visiting China from Sunday to September 1 for a journey that will take him to Beijing, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Central China's Henan Province. It is a reunion nearly three decades in the making.
That reunion began with a single act of generosity. In 1999, when Sakolsky arrived in China as a participant in a bilateral teacher exchange program, he was moved by Yin Yuzhen and her husband's tireless efforts to curb desertification in the Mu Us Desert in Inner Mongolia. He raised $5,000 to fund their local tree-planting initiative. The young saplings bought with the donation have since matured into more than 50,000 full-grown trees, transforming the once desolate, sandy wasteland into a thriving green landscape.
After decades of lost contact, Yin, a national model worker renowned for her desert restoration achievements, launched an online search for her American benefactor in May, hoping to reconnect with the man who helped launch her lifelong desert reclamation mission.
What followed was a remarkable wave of online support: within less than 48 hours, a nationwide search had tracked Sakolsky down. That swift effort led to their long-awaited virtual reunion, a video call that brought them face to face for the first time in 27 years.
Asked what he is most looking forward to about this journey, Sakolsky told the Global Times that "I want to see Ms Yin, see the forests, see the students I have not seen for almost 30 years, my colleagues. I want to see the Chinese people." 
The trip itself felt like a dream he never thought would come true, he added. 
Now, the dream is about to come true. Later on Sunday, Sakolsky will fly to Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the site of the transformative environmental project that bound his fate with Yin's all those years ago.
During his China visit, Sakolsky will join Yin in a new tree-planting activity. He will also hold exchanges and discussions with teachers and students from the Luoyang No.2 Foreign Language School where he once taught, and participate in official China-US teacher exchange events, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 
As he prepares to see the transformed landscape with his own eyes, Sakolsky shared with the Global Times about how much China itself has changed over the past two decades. From photographs, he said, he had already seen the barren desert he remembered turn into lush green forests; he had also heard that Luoyang has become far more vibrant and beautiful.  
"Hopefully the message gets out to the world that Chinese and Americans can work together and make a peaceful world," he said.
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