12:30 pm, March 25, 2026
New entrant car brands could account for 15% of the UK market by the end of 2026 and hit 20% in only a few years, according to new insights shared by Autotrader.
Speaking on the Car Dealer Podcast following Car Dealer Live, Autotrader’s commercial director Ian Plummer said the speed at which these brands are growing is outpacing earlier forecasts and is already being reflected in consumer behaviour.
‘We’re expecting the market share for those brands to get beyond 15% this year and get to probably 20% in no more than a couple of years,’ he said.
‘We originally said 20% for new entrant brands would be a forecast for 2030… we did that in the early 2020s and people said no chance.’
Plummer added that recent performance from brands such as BYD, Omoda and others is already pointing in that direction, with strong momentum building across the market.
He said: ‘If you look at what’s happening now, BYD and Jaecoo together did around 5% in December last year. They’re both looking for similar numbers across a full year.
‘MG is already operating at that sort of level as well, and when you start to add in other brands coming through, you’re quickly getting north of 15% market share.’
You can listen to the podcast in full by clicking play below or finding the Car Dealer Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon.
While official market share figures are still catching up, Autotrader’s internal data suggests consumer demand is already running ahead of those numbers.
‘If you look at the lead indicator of Autotrader, it’s leads, but it’s also an early indicator of where the market is going,’ Plummer explained.
‘One in four new car leads last year were sent to these new entrant brands. If that’s at 20-something percent in terms of leads, likely that’s going to flow through into sales. So it’s definitely shaping the market.’
He said the rapid rise of these brands is being driven primarily by product strength and value, rather than simply low pricing – something he believes is often misunderstood.
‘Fundamentally, product is definitely a big driver. They’ve got very good products,’ he said. ‘People often say ‘cheap Chinese EVs’, but I always say there’s three words there and two of them are wrong.
‘They’re not cheap – what they are is great value. There’s loads of options on them, they’re very content rich, which makes them good value, not necessarily cheap but definitely affordable.’
Plummer also pointed out that many of these brands are not solely focused on electric vehicles, with plug-in hybrids and other alternatives playing an increasingly important role in their growth.
‘They’re mostly not EVs. There are a lot of EVs, don’t get me wrong, but they’re growing that plug-in hybrid category super fast,’ he said. ‘More than half of the PHEV enquiries on our platform are now going to these new Chinese brands.’
He added: ‘They’ve grown trust and reassurance factors by doing two things – putting long warranties on their products, exactly like the Koreans did, and building out strong networks behind them much quicker than we saw historically.’
He explained that the backing of major dealer groups has played a key role in accelerating consumer confidence.
‘If you’ve got Lookers, Group 1 and Arnold Clark putting these brands across their businesses, that reassures the consumer,’ he said. ‘They know where they can get the car looked after if ever that’s necessary, along with the long warranty.’
Autotrader data also shows a clear shift in consumer behaviour, with interest in these brands moving from curiosity to genuine buying intent over a relatively short period.
‘Eighteen months ago, people would find them in search, click on them and think, ‘that’s that brand I’ve heard about’, but they weren’t really reassured yet,’ he said. ‘So you had strong interest but weak conversion.
‘Now they’ve gone from people not converting to the exact opposite, with really strong conversion rates. Their stock performs at roughly double the level in terms of its likelihood to go from an ad view into a lead.’
The Car Dealer Podcast talks about the biggest news stories for the industry each week with a guest. You can subscribe now by searching for it wherever you listen to podcasts.
