China's car industry grew from four state giants to roughly 150 brands
Around 150 car brands are active in China today, 97 of them homegrown, in the largest automotive industry anywhere. For decades foreign carmakers could only enter through partnerships in which a Chinese firm held at least half. That rule began unravelling in 2018, and Tesla was first through the gap.
Until 2010 the industry was dominated by a traditional Big Four of state-owned makers: SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng and Changan. FAW, founded in Changchun on 15 July 1953, was the People's Republic's first carmaker and still builds the Hongqi and Jiefang lines. Changan, based in Chongqing, claims roots reaching back to 1862 under the Qing dynasty. Dongfeng began in 1969 as Second Automobile Works in Wuhan. SAIC answers to Shanghai's city government and sells MG, Roewe and Wuling cars alongside Buicks and Volkswagens built with foreign partners.
Ownership comes in layers. Three groups belong directly to the central government, while others such as GAC, BAIC and JAC report to city or provincial authorities. Chery shifted to mixed state and private ownership in 2025, and Seres, partly owned by its founding family, turned to premium electric cars after teaming up with Huawei in 2021. Then there are private firms: Shenzhen's BYD, which grew out of a battery company and is now the world's biggest maker of electric vehicles, and Geely, whose holdings include Volvo, Polestar and Lotus.
A new wave of electric start-ups arrived after 2014. Nio is known for battery-swapping stations, Li Auto for range-extender models and XPeng for tech-heavy design, while the phone maker Xiaomi launched its SU7 in 2024. Foreign giants have bought in too: Stellantis took 20 percent of Leapmotor and Volkswagen 5 percent of XPeng, both in 2023.
Rules governing the industry changed step by step. Ownership caps were lifted for new energy vehicles in July 2018, for commercial vehicles in 2020 and for passenger cars in 2022. Tesla's Shanghai plant became the first wholly foreign-owned car factory on the mainland, and BMW and Volkswagen later took majority control of their old partnerships.
Source: Automobile manufacturers and brands of China
