What Happens When Cheap Chinese EVs Hit Canada? Look At Australia.

There are a lot of choices in China’s car market, and nearly every one of them is desperately seeking a new home in some export market. Brands like BYD or Xiaomi may have strong sales and profitability at home, but that’s the exception, not the rule. There are dozens of smaller players with big dreams and goals of seeing global domination outside of China, since, well, they just can’t generate the local volume needed to hit profitability.

Often, these cars from lesser-known companies rely on exports to turn around dire profitability and sinking sales trends in their home country. Just look at Neta, a Chinese brand that has faced falling sales and financial woes in China as of late. It has hoped to find success by pivoting to markets like Thailand and Brazil. But the cars themselves don’t seem like they’re as good as ones from bigger brands with more money, like Geely or BYD, nor do they have the same after-sales support.

As Canada gets access to Chinese cars, I can’t help but wonder: Which brands come through first? And if they all run through the door at once, which ones actually pull this off?

If you go down under to Australia, you could start to see an answer. 

BYD Australia 

Chinese auto brands have made serious inroads into Australia in recent years, filling a vacuum as Ford and General Motors have given up on local production. “The market share of Chinese brands in Australia is around 17% now, versus 1.7% in 2019. This is [tenfold] growth since COVID, in other words,” said Mike Costello, an analyst with Cox Automotive Australia and New Zealand. 

Australia and Canada are similar in a lot of ways; both population and put them on a similar footing. Their auto markets differ in size, though, with Canada moving 1.8 million cars last year, while Australia has only sold 1.2 million.

Geographically and geopolitically, Australia is inherently closer to China. Chinese brands have been on the continent since at least the late 2000s, with Great Wall Motors launching in 2009, and later Chery in 2011. Chery exited Australia in 2015, partially due to poor quality and crash safety ratings, but would later re-enter in 2023 with significantly improved vehicles amid a growing desire for both affordable cars and electrified ones.

ORA Funky Cat 

Now, that 17% does include the wide range of pure gas-powered and hybrid models sold from brands like Chery or Great Wall Motors. Yet, when we focus on EVs, it’s clear that Chinese contenders have huge appeal for Australians. 

A full 77% of all EVs sold in Australia in 2025 were made in China—even ones from non-Chinese brands. Costello says that 41% of Australia’s EV market is held by 22 Chinese brands selling over 30 different individual models.

When it comes to plug-in hybrid models, BYD takes the lion’s share with 68% of all models sold there.  As a whole, Australia’s EV market is about 8.6% of its total market, about the same as the U.S. But while the total American market is about 15 times larger, it has significantly fewer brands to choose from.

(Nio) Firefly (2025)

Photo by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

Yet Australia expects to see even more Chinese brands come to its shores in the very near future. Nio, for example, plans to expand into Australia this year with its Firefly small EV. 

That’s a lot of brands. Can Australia even support all of those brands? China certainly can’t.

So far, they’re figuring it out in Australia. Chinese brands have learned a lot from their first go around in Western markets. Once, Great Wall Motors was known for poorly made, poorly driving trucks. Now, its line of SUVs, trucks and EVs has made it now Australia’s seventh most popular car brand. Chery has seennothing but an upward trajectory since returning to Australia. 

Plug-in hybrid pickup truck test in Australia

Photo by: 4WD 24/7

Since last year, the brand has increased its sales by 200%, although much of that growth is attributed to the sales of its gas crossovers. “[Chinese brands] are learning a lot, hiring good managers and dealers, committing to having a go, using Australia as a place to send excess production,” Costello said. The Tesla Model Y is Australia’s best-selling EV, but the BYD Sealion 7 has rocketed to second place after its first year on the market.

The BYD Shark is Australia’s most popular pickup that isn’t sold to fleet buyers. BYD moved 15,564 trucks to private owners. By comparison, Toyota sold 12,529 Hilux pickups during the same time. Impressive, especially when you keep in mind that Toyota owns 20% of Australia’s car market. 

BYD Sealion 7 

Photo by: BYD

Still, Costello doesn’t see Chinese brands expanding into Australia at such a rapid pace forever. It’s easy to sell wholesale cars (or dump vehicles, if you’re taking a less charitable view), but investing in appropriate marketing, support and service networks will take time.

“Which brands will offer enough parts, enough service bays, enough good dealers, to get repeat business? Which will invest beyond wholesaling inventory?” Costello said. In other words, if they wanna do this for real, it can’t just be about sending cars out of China to eat up excess capacity at home.

Now, Canada has some barriers to entry here, likely to curb dumping while protecting its homegrown car manufacturing industry. While Australia has no import limits or industry-stopping tariffs on Chinese EVs, Canada still does. The country’s new deal with China limits imported units to 49,000 at the 6% tariff rate to start, increasing to a maximum of 70,000 units. That means Chinese brands will naturally have to be choosy with how they enter and what exactly they bring. There’s no real benefit to dozens of brands making a mad dash to offer a full line of products to split between a relatively small number of available spots in the market.

InsideEVs has reached out to the Canadian government, but we have not received much clarity aside from wording from Transport Canada, the country’s governing body when it comes to vehicle homologation. That agency merely said that whatever is sold in the country must pass its crash and emissions standards. It’s not clear if there will be a limit on the number of brands or which brands can go first. 

But when Chinese cars do make it to Canada, it’s clear that they’ll likely be successful. Just ask Australia. 

Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com