For years, European regulators thought they had China figured out: slap steep tariffs on low-cost Chinese EVs, protect local manufacturers, safeguard the market. But there was one thing no one saw coming—or at least, no one wanted to admit. While Europe was busy building walls around electric imports, China simply walked through the side door… with millions of internal-combustion cars.

And now, the Old Continent is swimming in petrol.

The EV Pivot No One Predicted

China’s domestic market has flipped faster than almost anywhere else on Earth. New energy vehicles—battery EVs and plug-in hybrids—now account for more than half of all new car sales there. That electric surge left countless gasoline models stranded on dealer lots. And it didn’t just hurt Chinese brands; it hammered longtime champions like Volkswagen, which once ruled the Chinese market with an iron fist. Today that crown sits firmly on BYD’s head.

But when the bottom drops out of domestic ICE demand, what do you do? You export. A lot.

Europe Tried to Keep EVs Out—and Got ICE Instead

Brussels targeted Chinese EVs with protectionist tariffs, hoping to slow their advance. Instead, it opened the doors to something else entirely: a tidal wave of Chinese-built gasoline cars from brands most Europeans barely knew a few years ago.

And China was more than ready. According to Reuters, 76% of Chinese vehicle exports in 2020 were combustion-engine models, and the number is still ballooning. In 2025, exports could blow past 6.5 million units, a staggering figure that puts China on a trajectory to become the world’s export powerhouse for ICE vehicles.

Africa and Latin America are feeling the shift too—China’s footprint is expanding on every continent where EV infrastructure is still in its early stages.

The New Giants: BAIC, Changan, Dongfeng, SAIC—And MG’s Petrol-Powered Resurgence

Some of China’s most aggressive exporters aren’t the headline-grabbing EV darlings, but the old-guard industrial titans: BAIC, Dongfeng, Changan, SAIC.

SAIC in particular has pulled off a brand-building miracle with MG. The once-British marque relaunched in Europe with an electrified lineup—MG4, MG5, the usual suspects—but it’s the petrol-burning MG3 and MG ZS that truly unlocked the European mass market. They’re cheap, simple, and decently built. And it’s working: MG now sells more cars in Europe than in China, a statistic that would’ve sounded like satire 15 years ago.

Why China Doesn’t Need Its Old Partners Anymore

For decades, Beijing forced foreign automakers into joint ventures with domestic companies. The intent was clear: transfer technology, share expertise, and give Chinese industry a seat at the grown-ups’ table.

Mission accomplished.

Today, the former students are outperforming their teachers. Foreign brands—VW, GM, Toyota—are seeing their ICE sales nose-dive in China while homegrown automakers march confidently toward global expansion. The Chinese industry no longer needs foreign partners, but foreign partners still desperately need the Chinese market. It’s a brutal reversal.

EV Boom at Home, Petrol Surge Abroad

China’s internal electrification wasn’t just an environmental pivot—it was a logistical rebalancing of the global auto market. As China rapidly embraced EVs, manufacturers gained the freedom (and production capacity) to ship huge volumes of ICE models overseas at prices Western competitors can’t match.

Even BYD, which built its European identity around fully electric models like the Atto 3 and Seal, is now shoving plug-in hybrids into its EU strategy after seeing the appetite for inexpensive electrified options.

But no one is playing this export game harder than Chery, China’s largest car exporter. Despite its growing portfolio of hybrids and EVs, Chery’s bread and butter remains gasoline. And with demand for cheap petrol mobility still strong across much of the world, they’re not slowing down.

Europe Wanted an EV Fortress. It Got an ICE Superhighway Instead.

The irony is almost poetic. Europe built tariff barriers to shield itself from China’s electric offensive—only to end up inviting a wave of combustion-engine vehicles that European manufacturers are far less prepared to compete with. Peugeot, Renault, Fiat, VW—all are watching low-cost Chinese petrol cars nip at their margins.

And if the trend continues, China won’t just dominate EV manufacturing. It could end up dominating the global ICE market on its way out.

Because when a country electrifies faster than anyone else, it doesn’t just change its own roads. It changes everyone else’s.

Source: Reuters