China's Car Invasion

Chinese car firms aren't knocking on India's automotive door, they are already inside. They are reshaping expectations, technology and the future of mobility

- RAJEEV NARAYAN

It is a silent takeover that you don't notice at first. A BYD Atto 3 glides past you in Delhi traffic, its cabin lit up like a spaceship. Moments later, an MG Motor EV quietly overtakes a wheezing diesel sedan. Then a Volvo, under Chinese Geely ownership, happily whispers past a shopping mall. When a sleek Zeekr (yes, also Chinese-backed) rolls through Mumbai's monsoon wash, it finally hits you: China's carmakers haven't just entered India, they already live here.

Unlike previous waves of foreign automakers, this invasion hasn't come along with arrogance or loud PR blitzes. It has come to entice with supple leather seats, massive touchscreens, long-range batteries, Level-2+ driver assistance and price tags that make even German luxury seem like financial folly. This is not a disruption. It is a takeover.

NUMBERS DON'T LIE

The scale of the shift is seismic. Chinese-backed brands, the likes of BYD, MG Motor and Volvo, now command 33 per cent of India's electric-vehicle market. In the ICE space too, their canter is turning into a gallop. In absolute terms, China's auto firms sold 57,260 EV units in India by October 2025, compared to 101,724 units by domestic manufacturers.

This extraordinary rise has happened in just two years. Half-a-decade ago, Chinese car brands had virtually zero presence in India's BEV space. The speed of this transformation—from zero to one-third of the pie—has been breathtaking, rewriting the rule-book overnight. Standouts in this march are MG Motor and BYD.

MG's EV division has surged, largely thanks to the compact, feature-rich MG Windsor EV, which arrived in late 2024. With intelligent packaging, decent range and an attractive 'Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS)' model, the Windsor is now a market magnet. By mid-2025, EVs accounted for over 70 per cent of MG's monthly dispatches, and the brand's EV share jumped.