Clarkson and his colleagues already said it in 2012: it won’t be long before the Chinese car market catches up with the rest of the world and then we won’t be able to ignore them anymore. Well, that moment has come. One Chinese manufacturer after another is springing up, each bringing a fleet of cars with them. The Chinese share is also starting to play a role in the used car market and it is striking that Lynk & Co is the most sought after, according to figures from AutoTrack.nl.
Like mushrooms from the ground
Not so long ago, names like Xpeng, Nio, Hongqi and BYD were names that only enjoyed serious fame within the Chinese borders. However, things have gone fast in the last two years and you can now find all these brands on Dutch highways. And this is not about questionable quality cars, like the ones we used to get from China. These are not cars from the Landwind category, but full-fledged, electric and very well-equipped family cars. And they are also attractively priced for an EV, something that makes European manufacturers restless. In short: the Chinese EV is a serious player and this is underlined by the figures.
Lynk & Co tops the list
The most searched for Chinese brand on AutoTrack.nl is by far Lynk & Co. With their 01, the brand has brought an excellent SUV to the market, which can be used in new condition with a special loan construction. On average, there are 60,500 searches for Lynk & Co on AutoTrack.nl per month, which is more than brands such as BYD (18,000), Nio (14,800) and Xpeng (12,100) combined. It undoubtedly helps that Lynk & Co has been around for a while, while the other manufacturers have only just set foot on Dutch soil.
BYD atto 3
Increase in second half of 2023
Almost all Chinese brands have seen a clear increase in the number of searches in the second half of 2023. For example, compared to August 2023, there has been a 124 percent increase in searches for BYD. Hongqi received an additional 50 percent and Nio and Xpeng each received about a quarter. Remarkably, interest in Lynk & Co fell slightly by 18 percent, but the brand is still by far the most popular among used car seekers. The less popular Aiways saw no increase in interest, with a zero percent increase.
Not much change over time
If you look at two years ago, a striking picture emerges: the increase compared to November 2021 is not nearly as overwhelming as you might think. Lynk & Co already had around 50,000 searches and even Nio, which was in the news at the time but not yet active in the Netherlands, produced comparable figures in terms of searches at the time. Only with a brand like BYD is the increase compared to two years ago downright explosive, but that has a simple reason: the brand did not yet exist in this form.
Increasing interest in the MG ZS
Finally, we will zoom in on a specific model, in the form of the MG ZS. This affordable SUV may have a British name, but the brand is very much Chinese. The car is now four years old and so the range of used cars is increasing rapidly. Does this also apply to the buyer’s interest? Anyone watching from the summer of 2023 must answer this question with a resounding ‘yes’. Since August, the number of searches for the MG ZS has increased by no less than 86 percent. On average, the MG ZS is now searched 5,900 times per month, while that fluctuated around 3,000 times between November 2021 and August 2023.
Are Chinese cars really that popular?
It is clear that Chinese EVs are alive, but how do these cars compare to the established names? From that perspective, it is clear that the car market is far from being ‘flooded’. The most popular model, the Volkswagen Golf, is searched an average of 312,216 times per month. The most searched for electric car is the Hyundai Kona, with an average of 9,166 searches per month. If we look at the most sought-after brands for electric cars, Volkswagen is the proud leader and the Chinese brands are only mentioned late. MG is in 19th place, BYD, for example, in 32nd place.
In other words: the Chinese brands do have a foothold, but for the time being they are faring badly compared to the established names. However, with the rapid growth of the past two years, their market share will undoubtedly increase further.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl