It’s not simply electrical automobiles. Toyota is warning, “We don’t have a lot time left,” with China poised to take the lead in one other rising expertise following EVs.
Toyota is warning that China’s lead with EVs is simply the beginning
It’s no secret by now that China is, by far, main the transition to electrical. Final yr, over 17 million EVs had been bought globally. In response to Rho Movement, China accounted for 11 million, or over 60%.
At the same time as new fashions from main OEMs like Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Kia are being launched, China continues outpacing each different nation. Via the primary three months of 2025, over 2.4 million electrical vehicles had been bought in China, practically 60% of the 4.1 million bought globally.
And it’s not simply electrical automobiles. Most batteries that energy them additionally come from China, with corporations like CATL and BYD dominating the market.
Knowledge from SNE Analysis reveals that CATL and BYD alone accounted for over 55% of the worldwide EV battery market in 2024. With abroad gross sales surging in key markets like Southeast Asia, Europe, and Central and South America, BYD will not be solely promoting extra EVs but in addition the batteries wanted to energy them.
In March, BYD launched its new Tremendous e-platform with ultra-fast charging batteries that may add 250 miles vary in simply 5 minutes. The primary mannequin based mostly on the platform, the Han L, begins at simply 219,800 yuan ($30,000).
After which there’s the sensible driving expertise. Earlier this yr, BYD confirmed that the majority of its automobiles, together with its ultra-low-cost Seagull, will now embody its new “Gods Eye” driver-assistance system. Others like Huawei and Momenta are racing forward with newer, extra superior ADAS methods.
Now, Toyota is warning that China is about to take the lead in one other rising business, following EVs. Misumasa Yamagata, president of Toyota’s hydrogen enterprise, warned that hydrogen automobiles are headed for a similar destiny as EVs.
In response to the Monetary Occasions, Yamagata mentioned, “We don’t have a lot time left — it’s vital to speed up rapidly.”
Toyota has been creating hydrogen automobiles for over 30 years. Nonetheless, like electrical vehicles, China is rapidly taking market share.
China already accounts for almost all of hydrogen business automobile gross sales. Toyota’s hydrogen boss defined, “China is essentially the most superior on the planet for hydrogen vans.” Why? Yamagata states it’s “as a result of the Chinese language authorities ordered turning main logistics routes into hydrogen highways.”
China is quickly increasing refuelling stations whereas driving down prices, which are actually only a third of Japan’s. Hydrogen gasoline cell bus and truck gross sales in China had been greater than in each different market mixed, at 7,069.
Electrek’s Take
We’re already seeing it occur with electrical automobiles. With a flood of recent EVs coming into China, BYD, XPeng, NIO, and most others are actually trying abroad to drive development.
BYD’s abroad gross sales hit one other document in April, with practically 80,000 automobiles bought abroad, which is its fifth straight month of development. In complete, BYD bought over 380,000 new vitality automobiles (EVs and PHEVs), 195,740 of which had been purely electrical.
In response to S&P International Mobility, BYD’s gross sales are anticipated to double in Europe to round 186,000 in 2025. By 2029, that quantity may attain round 400,000.
In the meantime, the Trump administration is alienating commerce companions with new tariffs on imports whereas threatening to finish federal incentives, which can solely put the US additional behind.
It’s already changing into evident in world markets like Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and several other others, the place Chinese language manufacturers are rapidly gaining a presence.
The development is barely anticipated to speed up with new tech rapidly advancing. Will China proceed reshaping the worldwide auto and tech market? Tell us what you assume within the feedback.
