According to a report released by the German Center for Automotive Research (CAR), global passenger car sales are projected to reach 81.3 million units in 2025, marking the highest level in the past eight years. While China’s influence in the automotive sector continues to expand, European markets are expected to underperform.
The report emphasizes that China remains a pivotal actor in both production and demand. Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, Director of CAR, highlights that China’s vast domestic market and highly integrated supply chains generate significant economies of scale. He further notes that advances in power batteries, new energy vehicles, and autonomous driving technologies are fundamentally reshaping the global automotive industry. As Dudenhoeffer states, “Companies without a presence in China effectively have no presence in the automotive industry.”
Among the world’s 15 largest automotive markets, passenger car sales in China, the United States, India, and Türkiye are expected to grow by more than 4 percent in 2025. In contrast, major European markets are forecast to perform weakly. Sales in Germany are projected to increase by only 0.7 percent, while France and Italy are expected to experience declines of 4.8 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
Looking ahead to 2026, the report forecasts that global passenger car sales will rise by 2.6 percent to 83.4 million units. Asia is expected to outperform the global average, with growth of 3.8 percent, largely driven by China’s expanding share in both production and sales. Dudenhoeffer underscores that Asia has become the dominant continent in the automotive industry, with China as its undisputed leader.
The report further indicates that more than 60 percent of global passenger car production will take place in Asia in 2025, compared to approximately 15 percent in Europe. Intensifying global competition and the impact of U.S. tariff policies are expected to exacerbate the decline of Germany and other European producers in 2026.
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