Automotive News Europe — 2026-04-09
Automotive Industry
China’s premium car brands are pushing into Europe and Latin America with names that remain largely unknown to American customers: BYD Co.’s Denza, Geely Auto Group‘s Zeekr, China FAW Group Corp.‘s Hongqi.
Their swift growth, affordable sticker prices and improving quality make them potent future rivals to Cadillac, Lexus, BMW, even Tesla — and potential franchise opportunities for U.S. dealers willing to take the risk.
No Chinese premium player has laid out concrete U.S. plans yet, but some have shown strong interest in the market despite hefty tariffs and scrutiny of their technology. Many of the upmarket hopefuls were founded in just the last several years and focus mostly on electric vehicles.
Automotive News outlines the brands to watch, especially for retailers considering early entry into franchises that could emerge as the next wave of Asian challengers, or for legacy luxury executives watching their backs for the next big threat from China.
China’s premium players winning at home and piling into Europe
China’s premium brands, like their mass-market siblings, are looking overseas partly as the first step in building globally competitive businesses and partly avoid the bruising price war in an increasingly saturated home market.
For decades, China’s only homegrown premium brand was Hongqi.
State-owned FAW launched the marque, whose name translates as “Red Banner” or “Red Flag,” in 1958 to supply limousines for the government’s elite.
But starting in the 2010s, droves of domestic automakers dove into the premium. Today, there are 22 in China, and at least half of them sell overseas.
Chinese premium brands are winning over customers at home, stealing market share in China from traditional heavyweights such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi.
Domestic sales of the top three Chinese premium brands — Hongqi, Aito and Xiaomi — surged 73 percent to 1.29 million vehicles last year, according to company reports.
By contrast, China deliveries of BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, the top three global luxury brands in the local market, slipped 11 percent to 1.82 million.
Geely’s Lynk & CO led the advance into Europe, starting sales in the Netherlands in 2020. It now sells in Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain.
On March 30, Geely agreed to have Volvo take over marketing, sales and services for Lynk & CO in Europe. The goal is ramping up Lynk & CO sales by tapping Volvo’s established networks.
Nio launched sales in Norway in 2021 and expanded the following year into Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. Last year, the EV startup announced plans to blitz into 11 other European countries by the end of 2026.
FAW is the most active state-owned automaker on the European front. After landing in Norway in 2021, its Hongqi premium brand now markets gasoline and electric models in 10 countries.
Geely’s Zeekr also entered Europe in 2023 and now operates in 15 regional markets.
Voyah, a premium EV brand of state-owned Dongfeng Motor Group Co., ventured into Europe in 2024 and sells in more than six countries. Others will soon join the fray. BYD, Xiaomi and Li Auto are among those announcing plans to go premium in Europe.
Chinese carmakers are launching premium brands to move upscale
China’s premium push started in 2010 when electrified-vehicle giant BYD Co. created Denza.
Geely, a major private Chinese automaker, followed in 2016 with Lynk & CO to market gasoline vehicles co-developed with Swedish carmaker Volvo, which it acquired in 2010.
State-owned BAIC Motor Co. revealed Arcfox for EVs developed with domestic technology giant Huawei Technologies, while Great Wall Motor Co., China’s largest pickup truck maker, debuted Wey for high-end crossovers and SUVs.
With the domestic market pivoting to electrified vehicles behind generous government subsidies, the startup Nio debuted in 2014 as a premium EV maker followed by Li Auto in 2019.
From 2018 to 2020, four major state-owned automakers — Chery Automobile Co., SAIC Motor Corp., Changan Automobile Co. and Dongfeng — released premium EV brands.
And since 2020, the segment only picked up pace.
Private light-vehicle maker Series Group Co. collaborated with mobile phone maker Huawei to introduce the Aito premium EV brand in 2020. Geely debuted Zeekr in 2021. BYD added Yangwang for premium passenger vehicles in 2022 and Fangchengbao for off roaders in 2023.
Chery introduced Luxeed for high-end EVs in 2023. And in 2024 electronics giant Xiaomi Corp. got into the game with its software-laden SU7 sedan and YU7 utility vehicle.
China’s premium brands face hurdles to foothold in Europe
While many of those brands find traction at home, overseas expansion faces big challenges.
It starts with name recognition. Chinese carmakers are spending hugely on marketing and branding in Europe. In Germany alone, marketing campaigns have cost several hundreds of million dollars. And much of that spending has yet to pay off.
In the first two months of this year, Chinese premium brands collectively held just 0.3 percent of the overall European market, according to market researcher DataForce.
By contrast, all Chinese brands combined had 8 percent of the market.
Chinese brands face an uphill battle selling premium credentials.
To date, Chinese automakers have gained an international foothold by trading on acceptable quality and competitive pricing. That formula doesn’t necessarily work in the premium segment.
Chinese brands must build consumer confidence in the quality and safety of their products, not just their value proposition for affordability, Li Yunfei, head of BYD’s branding and public relations division, said at a Jan. 24 media briefing in Shanghai.
“Beyond product quality and user experience, the most crucial thing about a car is that consumers are entrusting their own lives and the lives of their families to the product,” he said.
BYD has shipped products selected from all its two premium brands — Denza and Fangchengbao — for export to Europe, Li said. In Europe as well as other overseas markets, Fangchengbao models are marketed as rebadged Denza products. “We don’t want to place too much burden on dealers during the initial market development period,” he said.
Premium Chinese brands eye U.S. market despite trade tensions
Trade tensions and tariff barriers are another hurdle for Chinese premium brands.
“There have been geopolitical factors causing many policy changes in other countries, which have created a lot of challenges,” BYD’s Li said.
For the time being, such obstacles are keeping BYD out of the U.S. market, he said.
The Biden administration imposed 100 percent tariffs on China-made EVs in 2024. The following year, the Biden administration finalized rules banning the use of software from China and Russia starting with the 2027 model year and hardware from the two “foreign adversaries” starting with the 2029 model year for connected vehicles in the U.S.
But Chinese brands haven’t given up on North America.
Three premium hopefuls — Denza, Lynk & CO and SAIC’s EV marque IM Motors — have already started sales in Mexico. Meanwhile, Canada has opened its market to China-made EVs as part of a trade pact Prime Minister Mark Carney signed in his visit to Beijing in January.
Chery has posted job advisements in Chinese media for a sales team in Canada, and BYD has also expressed interest in selling EVs there, though it’s unclear whether these companies might be considering the launch of premium vehicles there.
From 2006 to 2019, a slew of Chinese carmakers participated in the Detroit Auto Show, and some, including Chery and GAC Motor Co., also started to recruit distributors for the U.S. market.
They mostly shelved U.S. plans in 2020 after President Donald Trump launched a tariff war against China. But speaking to the Detroit Economic Club in January, Trump cracked the door a bit, hinted he would allow Chinese to build plants and produce vehicles in the U.S., calling the notion “great.”
Some China players are still in standby mode. In January, for instance, Geely and Great Wall Motor Co. attended CES in Las Vegas, Geely for its third straight year.
Both automakers displayed electrified models from their premium brands. Geely brought three Zeekr-brand electric models — the X, 7X and 9X crossovers — as well as the Lynk & Co 900 SUV. Great Wall showed two Wey-badged plug-in hybrid models — the G9 van and the 07 crossover.
Great Wall didn’t disclose when it might attempt U.S. sales. But Chief Technology Officer Wu Huixiao told Chinese media the carmaker was considering new investments in R&D centers in Detroit and Los Angeles to keep abreast with the latest technology developments in the U.S.
Geely’s head of global communications Ash Sutcliffe was more forthcoming about U.S. entry plans.
“I think we’ll have an announcement on that in the next 24 to 36 months,” Sutcliffe told automotive media outlet Autoline Network at CES.