Four years ago, Chinese cars were a rounding error on Malaysian roads. In 2022, brands from China accounted for just 578 of the 744,762 vehicles registered here, or 0.08% of the market. Last year they registered 66,198 units. JPJ registration data lays out just how quickly it happened.
The trajectory is close to vertical. From 0.08% in 2022, the Chinese share of all registrations jumped to 1.27% in 2023, then 4.01% in 2024, and 7.61% in 2025. Through the first five months of 2026 it has climbed further still, to 8.92%, which means almost one in every 11 new vehicles registered this year wears a Chinese badge. No other group of brands has come close to that rate of growth. And this isn’t even counting the Geelys wearing a national badge.
What makes the numbers striking is not just the total but where these brands now sit. In 2025, Omoda | Jaecoo was the fifth best-selling brand in the country with 17,845 units, BYD was sixth with 14,407, and Chery was eighth with 12,942. All three outsold established names such as Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Nissan. A decade ago, the idea of three Chinese marques in the national top 10 would have been unthinkable. Today only the two national brands plus Toyota and Honda stand ahead of them.
Look closer and you can see distinct waves. Chery and BYD led the first charge in 2023, each going from near zero to over 4,000 units in a single year. BYD pushed hardest in 2025 with 14,407 units, but the real breakout story is Omoda | Jaecoo, which went from a token two units in 2023 to 7,041 in 2024 and then 17,845 in 2025, making it the single biggest Chinese brand in the country.
Great Wall Motor has built steadily to 5,876 units, while a second wave is now arriving, with Jetour, Zeekr, iCaur and Xpeng all scaling up fast in 2026.
The drivers are familiar enough. Aggressive pricing, generous equipment levels, and a head start in electric and hybrid models have all helped Chinese brands win over buyers who once defaulted to Japanese or European marques. The EV incentives that ran until the end of 2025 gave the likes of BYD, Zeekr and Xpeng an additional tailwind. The question now is whether this is a ceiling or a foothold. On the evidence of the first five months of 2026, with the share still climbing and new brands still arriving, it looks far more like the latter.
How do you see the Chinese brands faring from here? Will there be further growth or will they hit a cap soon? Let us know in the comments. In the meantime you can explore more insights like this on our car sales data tool.
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how much did geely pay you to pretend proton is not a china brand?
If you combine P2 and Toyota (Daihatsu is within Toyota group), then what’s left are Toyota and Honda on top.. But looking at the current offering by both T and H (super boring lineup of cars), the chinese brands (including P1 which is just rebranded Geely) will definitely move upwards.. Those sleepy Toyota-UMW and Honda-DRB need to give us models sold in developed nations to compete (with competitive price of course). If these CCP cars are reliable (we’ll see in 5-10 years time), then Sayonara Nippon+European!!
it is in the genes of the type C that they have the midas touch. if they were to govern malaysia, it will grow like proton and we will be the Asian Tiger again.
Try growing up in a country ruled by a tyrannical BN regime for fifty years, any ounce of creativity that you might have at a young age gets wiped away by their public schools/indoctrination camps. as a result Proton and Perodua are stuck forever rebadging others cars.
Disappointed with my fellow Malaysians. Say no to CCP crap!
meetee should ban japcrap from dumping their recond secondhand junks without warranty into malaysia
Slower than how Jap took over continental brands last time I guess.
thanks to government policy, we are also dumping ground for unwanted citizens from other countries, so sampah cars suit sampah rakyat like ours.
Yes because under PH we must always bow down to our foreign overlords who are the true control of the Gomen.
Chery Autos are very strong; with Lepas coming in, the new brand might further cannibalise Jaecoo sales. The rest of the mainstreamers, based on traction and growth over the past 2 years, seriously don’t stand a chance. By end of the decade, probably only BYD, Chery Autos and GWM still active.
For those who never even have a chance or able to afford the so call sampah car from China… its so pity… for them to only manage SAMPAH MALAYSIA! most funny part, they cant even own a proper SAMPAH MALAYSIA… and crying with their AXIA, SAGA & BEZZA! CRY BABY!
And continue to blame other for own failure! THAT is how THE MONOPOLY win in the KAMPUNG fight!