Chinese Car Brands in the UK: May 2026 Registration Trends
Chinese and Chinese-owned brands had another busy month in May, but the detail is mixed. MG and Jaecoo grew, while BYD and Omoda were lower than April.
Based on AutoRank registration-date records from January to May 2026. The grouping includes Chinese and Chinese-owned brands used in AutoRank trend reporting.
Monthly registrations
March is the plate-change spike. May was slightly above April.
EV share in May
9,095 of 27,458 May registrations in the group were electric.
The quick read
AutoRank counted 27,458 May registrations for this Chinese and Chinese-owned brand group.
That was up from 26,283 in April, but still far below the March plate-change peak of 69,556.
MG led May with 7,053 registrations. Jaecoo followed on 5,036, then Volvo, BYD and Omoda.
Who moved in May
Jaecoo added 1,182 registrations versus April. Maxus was also up strongly, from 391 to 1,218.
BYD fell from 4,940 to 4,195. Omoda fell from 3,209 to 2,633.
That mix matters. The group is not moving as one block. Some brands are still building while others cooled after April.
EV angle
EVs made up 33.1% of the May registrations in this group.
Polestar, Smart and XPeng were EV-only in the May data. Leapmotor was also heavily electric at 90.2%.
MG and Jaecoo were more mixed, which is why their overall EV shares look lower despite their high volume.
Chinese and Chinese-owned brands in May
EV share is shown where the brand had May registrations in the group.