China brands and Tesla race up the charts as traditional carmakers lose more ground
[SINGAPORE] One in four cars registered in Singapore for the first half of 2026 were from electric vehicle giant BYD, as China brands and Tesla continue to gain ground on established carmakers from Europe, Japan and Korea.
According to Land Transport Authority data on new passenger car registrations from January to June released on Friday (Jul 24), BYD solidified its dominance and remained the top brand in Singapore.
It registered 6,828 vehicles, a 46.3 per cent increase year on year, as it expanded its market share to 25.2 per cent from 19.5 per cent across the same time period.
This was as the overall registrations for the six months increased 13.3 per cent to 27,144.
Toyota remained in second position with 3,386 registrations, a 2.2 per cent drop year on year.
Electric charge continues
American EV maker Tesla entered the top three as it doubled its registrations to 2,826 from 1,419 in H1 2025.
Mercedes-Benz remained in fourth position with 1,680 registrations, although that number was 33.8 per cent less than the year-ago period. German compatriot BMW dropped two positions to fifth, with registrations down 40.3 per cent to 1,591.
Japanese carmaker Honda fared similarly with sales down 44.4 per cent to 1,261.
Further down the order, China brands pushed traditional automakers off the top 10.
Chery, MG, GAC and Xpeng all gained major ground, displacing Hyundai, Kia, Nissan and Mazda.
Chery’s sales ballooned to 1,270 from 195 in the previous corresponding period.
EV incentives have fuelled strong demand for such cars, especially from China or China-owned brands, with these models offering major cost effectiveness.
EV adoption continued to increase for the six months, as EVs made up 62.4 per cent of registrations, up from 41 per cent a year ago, while petrol electric hybrids were at 29.8 per cent, down from 41.9 per cent.
Petrol cars made up just 5.5 per cent compared with 16.2 per cent in the year-ago period.
At the same time, luxury carmakers such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been hit by reductions in Preferential Additional Registration Fee rebates introduced in February.
Industry observers said these factors have caused a fundamental reshaping of Singapore’s car market, long dominated by Toyota, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Honda.
