There are plenty of options in the Chinese car market, and almost every one of them is desperately looking for a new home in an export market. Brands like BYD or Xiaomi may have strong sales and profitability at home, but that’s the exception, not the rule. There are dozens of smaller players with big dreams and goals of seeing global dominance outside of China because, well, they just can’t generate the local volume needed to achieve profitability.
Often these cars from lesser-known companies rely on exports to turn around dire profitability and declining sales trends in their home country. Just look at Neta, a Chinese brand that has faced declining sales and financial problems in China lately. It hoped to find success by pivoting to markets such as Thailand and Brazil. But the cars themselves don’t seem to be as good as those from bigger brands with more money like Geely or BYD, nor do they have the same after sales support.
As Canada gains access to Chinese cars, I can’t help but wonder: Which brands come first? And if they all walk through the door at once, who realizes it?
If you go down to Australia, you might start to see an answer.
Australia Top World
Chinese car brands have made serious inroads into Australia in recent years, filling a void as Ford and General Motors pulled out of local production. “The market share of Chinese brands in Australia is about 17% now, compared to 1.7% in 2019. This is [tenfold] growth from COVID, in other words,” said Mike Costello, analyst at Cox Automotive Australia and New Zealand.
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Australia and Canada are similar in many ways; both the population and put them on a similar footing. However, their car markets differ in size, with Canada moving 1.8 million cars last year, while Australia sold just 1.2 million.
Geographically and geopolitically, Australia is inherently closer to China. Chinese brands have been on the continent since at least the late 2000s, with Great Wall Motors launching in 2009 and later Chery in 2011. Chery left Australia in 2015, partly due to poor quality and crash safety ratings, but later re-entered in 2023 with significantly improved vehicles for both electrified and electrified cars.
ORA Funky Cat First Edition, UK spec, driving front view
Now, that 17 percent includes the wide range of hybrid and pure gas models sold from brands like Chery or Great Wall Motors. However, when we focus on electric vehicles, it’s clear that the Chinese competitors have a lot of appeal for Australians.
77% of all electric vehicles sold in Australia in 2025 were made in China, even those from non-Chinese brands. Costello says 41 per cent of the electric vehicle market in Australia is held 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 electric vehicle market is about 8.6% of the total market, about the same as the US. But while the total US market is about 15 times larger, it has far fewer brands to choose from.
(Nio) Firefly (2025)
However, Australia expects to see even more Chinese brands come to its shores in the very near future. Nio, for example, plans to expand into Australia this year with the Firefly electric vehicle.
There are a lot of brands. Can Australia even support all these brands? China certainly cannot.
By now, they are figuring it out in Australia. Chinese brands have learned a lot from their first foray into Western markets. Once upon a time, Great Wall Motors was known for poorly made, poorly driven trucks. Now its line of SUVs, trucks and electric vehicles has now made it the seventh most popular car brand in Australia. Chery has seen nothing but an upward trajectory since returning to Australia.
Plug-in hybrid pickup truck test in Australia
Since last year, the brand has grown its sales by 200 percent, though much of that growth is attributed to sales of its gas-powered crossovers. “[Chinese brands] they’re learning a lot, they’re hiring good managers and dealers, they’re committed to trying, using Australia as a place to send excess production,” Costello said. The Tesla Model Y is the best-selling electric vehicle in Australia, but the BYD Sealion 7 has climbed to second place after its first year on the market.
The BYD Shark is Australia’s most popular non-fleet pickup. BYD moved 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.
BYD Sealion 7 review
Still, Costello doesn’t see Chinese brands expanding into Australia at such a rapid rate forever. It’s easy to wholesale cars (or tippers, if you have a less charitable view), but investing in proper marketing, support and service networks will take time.
“Which brands will offer enough parts, enough service bays, enough good dealers, to get repeat business? Which will invest beyond wholesale inventory?” Costello said. In other words, if they really want to do this, it can’t just be about sending cars from China to eat up excess capacity at home.
Now, Canada has some barriers to entry here that could reduce dumping while protecting the domestic auto industry. While Australia has no import limits or industry-stopping tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, Canada still does. The country’s new deal with China limits imported units to 49,000 to start, rising to a maximum of 70,000 units, so Chinese brands will naturally have to be picky about how they get in and what they bring. There is no real benefit to dozens of brands making a mad dash to offer a full line of products that is split into a relatively small number of available market slots.
InsideEVs reached out to the Canadian government, but didn’t get much clarity beyond wording from Transport Canada, the country’s governing body when it comes to vehicle approvals. The agency said only that anything sold in the country must meet its impact and emissions standards. It is not clear if there will be a limit to the number of brands or which brands can go first.
But when Chinese cars come to Canada, it’s clear they’re likely to be successful. Ask Australia.
