BYD Passes Ford in Europe as Chinese Brands Take Share From Every Legacy Rival

BYD has overtaken Ford in European registrations, according to ACEA figures for the EU, UK and EFTA reported on October 22. BYD registered 283,997 cars between January and September 2026, up 134.6% year over year, compared with Ford’s 277,269. Chery Automobile, covering Chery, Jaecoo, Jetour and Omoda, increased registrations by 255.9% to 260,650 — putting it just 75 cars ahead of Tesla in the same period. The Chinese groups are no longer niche importers: BYD’s European market share rose from 1.2% to 2.7%, a gain of 1.5 percentage points in nine months.

The share losses were broad. Ford, Hyundai and Dacia each lost 0.7 percentage points of share, while Peugeot and Nissan dropped 0.4 points each. Toyota’s share slipped from 6.5% to 6.2%, even as its volumes rose 1.0% — a reminder that in a growing market, standing still in units still means losing share to faster-growing rivals. The pattern mirrors BYD’s breakthroughs elsewhere in October: the same month it passed Toyota in South Korea and hit 150,000 deliveries in Australia, it passed Ford in Europe on volume, not just growth rate.

What the numbers do not say matters too. Registrations are not profits, and Chinese brands are still building service networks, residual values and brand trust that legacy brands spent decades accumulating. But the direction is now documented across three continents in a single month, and it is driven by the same formula: lower prices, newer electric lineups and faster model cycles than incumbents are matching. Europe’s legacy brands are not losing to a single model — they are losing share, point by point, to an entire new competitive set.