Global Auto Q3 Breakdown: Overseas Giants Decline While Chinese Brands Hold Strong

Source: Lieyunwang
As 2025 approaches, the global automotive industry is entering a challenging period of structural adjustment, with third-quarter reports showing a clear slowdown in momentum for major international automakers.

Sales data reveals that the long-held advantage of steady growth among traditional foreign giants is steadily weakening, with several brands even posting negative results. While Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai managed to maintain stable growth, companies such as Stellantis, Honda, and Mercedes-Benz experienced noticeable declines.

In contrast, China’s leading automakers are demonstrating remarkable resilience and momentum. Sales figures remain strong, with BYD, SAIC, Geely, Chery, and XPeng achieving double-digit or higher growth. Notably, BYD sold 3.26 million vehicles in the first three quarters, placing it among the world’s top five—only 50,000 units short of Ford—highlighting its rapidly expanding market presence.

On the revenue front, the divergence between Chinese and overseas automakers is even more pronounced. From January to September, top Chinese car companies such as BYD, Geely, and Chery reported double-digit revenue growth, while most foreign giants posted single-digit increases. Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Tesla even recorded revenue contractions.

Profitability tells a similar story. Impacted by U.S. tariff policies and weakening sales in China, foreign automakers saw broad declines in net earnings. Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Honda reported profit drops exceeding 50%, while even Toyota—the global profit leader—fell by 16%. Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers such as BYD and Chery both surpassed 10 billion RMB in net profits over the first three quarters, showing far stronger financial resilience.

Taken together, the contrast is striking: Chinese automakers are steadily closing the gap with established foreign brands, forming a clear trend of “rising in the East, falling in the West.”

Behind this performance gap lies a critical factor: China’s aggressive investment in intelligent and electrified vehicle R&D. Third-quarter reports indicate that leading Chinese manufacturers increased R&D expenditures at significantly higher rates than their foreign counterparts, most posting double-digit growth. BYD alone invested 43.7 billion RMB—a 31% jump year-over-year. In contrast, international giants, constrained by global margin pressures, slowed their investments, with Volkswagen and BMW cutting R&D spending by 9% and 15% respectively.

As global automotive giants endure the difficulty of steering large legacy operations through transformation, Chinese automakers are seizing a historic opportunity to reshape the competitive landscape. Moving forward, the key question is whether Chinese brands can capitalize on this window—building even greater technological strength, product appeal, and international influence—to ultimately claim leadership in the global automotive arena.