Two Chinese automakers have entered the world's Top 10

In the third quarter, BYD came sixth and Geely ninth.

Photo by: Motor1.com

By: Juan Felipe Munoz

Nov 14, 2024 at 7:00am ET

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There's big news in the world rankings for cars sold in the third quarter of 2024: China has placed two of its many carmakers in the Top 10. But let's proceed in order, between July and September, global markets sold around 22 million units, down 2.7%, and while Europe, the US and most emerging markets fell on hard times, China continued to gain ground thanks to its ambitious and aggressive carmakers.

According to official data published by the world's carmakers, Toyota remained at the top of the world rankings in the third quarter with 2.74 million units (a market share of almost 13%), but declined by 3.8% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023, due to demand problems in China. The second, third, fourth and fifth places also remain occupied by the "usual" manufacturers.

The Volkswagen group retained second place with 2.18 million units, down 7.1%. Hyundai Motor Company (including Kia) remained third with 1.78 million units, down 2.6%. Both companies were affected by demand trends in China, where consumers continue to prefer local brands.

Finally, the Top 5 is completed by Stellantis and General Motors, which both recorded double-digit declines. In particular, Stellantis recorded the biggest year-on-year decline among the world's top 20 OEMs, as it faces significant demand problems in North America and Europe, its two main markets, and growing competition from Chinese brands in South America.

Who has climbed the rankings

In the third quarter of 2024, BYD occupied sixth place with 1.13 million units sold, representing impressive growth of 38%. The group continues to increase its market share at home and abroad thanks to its extensive product range, which includes all-electric and plug-in hybrid models. In terms of electric car volumes, BYD was only 19,500 units behind Tesla in the third quarter.

Change in sales Q3 2023 vs Q3 2024 among the top 25 countries

In fact, BYD's volumes in the third quarter were so high that they were very close to those recorded by Stellantis (1.17 million) and GM (1.15 million). The Chinese manufacturer was only 12,108 units behind GM and almost 40,000 units behind Ford. If it continues to perform well, it could overtake Honda, Ford and probably GM by the end of 2025.

The other surprise was to see the Geely group (including Volvo and Polestar) in the Top 10. With 811,800 units sold, it was able to overtake Nissan and oust Suzuki from the ranking. Geely is making great strides with its latest Chinese brands, such as ZEEKR, Lynk & Co and Geely Galaxy, and is also the only Chinese manufacturer present in the United States with its Volvo and Polestar brands.

Automotive Group	Results third quarter 2023	Results third quarter 2024	%
Toyota	2,844,990	2,736,904	-4%
Volkswagen Group	2,343,279	2,176,363	-7%
Hyundai Motor Company	1,824,213	1,777,300	-3%
Stellantis	1,478,000	1,174,000	-21%
General Motors	1,322,000	1,147,000	-13%
BYD	824,001	1,134,892	+38%
Ford	1,086,000	1,095,000	+1%
Honda	1,033,000	910,000	-12%
Geely	703,135	811,797	+20%
Nissan	833,000	809,000	-3%

A quarter to remember

For the first time, carmakers of Chinese origin sold more cars than European manufacturers. According to the data, the former sold a total of 5.07 million units, an increase of 10%, while the latter saw their volumes fall by 11% to 4.99 million units.

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This means that the global market share of Chinese OEMs rose from 20.8% in the third quarter of 2023 to 23.6% the following year, in contrast to the loss of market share suffered by Japanese, European, American and Korean manufacturers.