1. The Ranking
2. Three Signals
Signal 1
- Fact: Chinese brands took a record 19.1% of UK registrations in July 2026, and 14.5% even without MG.
- Read: Both lines jumped from June’s 16.5% and 11.6%. The ex-MG number is now rising faster than the headline, so the old caveat no longer explains the story away.
Signal 2
- Fact: The Chery group (Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda) reached 12,117 units combined, second only to Volkswagen and ahead of Kia, Audi and Ford.
- Read: Chery is no longer a second pillar behind MG. On combined volume it is the largest Chinese presence in Britain, built from three badges most buyers read as separate.
Signal 3
- Fact: BYD registered 6,603 units, up 107.4%, entering the SMMT top ten for the first time. Tesla fell 48.1% to 512.
- Read: BYD doubled in a market that grew 11.7%. Part of Tesla’s July trough is its quarter-end shipping rhythm, but the like-for-like July comparison is still a halving.
3. The Take
Britain has stopped being the market where the China story needs a footnote. Chinese brands took 19.1% of new registrations in July 2026. Strip out MG (wholly SAIC-owned) and it is still 14.5%. In June those two numbers were 16.5% and 11.6%. The caveat that used to do all the work is now shrinking faster than the headline it was meant to qualify.
The most important number last month was not MG. It was 12,117. That is Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda added together, which is what they actually are. On that basis Chery was the second-largest carmaker in Britain in July, ahead of Kia, ahead of Audi, ahead of Ford, behind only Volkswagen. A year ago the same three badges sold 3,789 cars between them. Nobody in Wolfsburg or Seoul modelled a 220% year.
BYD did the other half of the damage. 6,603 units, up 107.4%, into the SMMT top ten for the first time. Tesla went the other way in the same month, down to 512 cars and 35th place. Part of that trough is Tesla’s quarter-end shipping rhythm rather than a demand collapse, so do not over-read one month. The like-for-like July comparison is still a 48.1% fall.
Three of Britain’s ten best-selling cars in July were Chinese (Jaecoo 7, MG HS, Jaecoo 5). Korean brands sold 14,941 cars in the month. Chinese brands sold 29,869. The bloc that was a rounding error in 2023 is now exactly twice the size of Korea.
Watch the ex-MG line. It was always the polite way of saying this is really just one brand. At 14.5% and rising across five names, it has stopped being a defence.
4. Sources
- Source: SMMT new car registrations.
- Published: 2026-08-05.
- MG counted as SAIC (Chinese). Chinese share shown with and without MG.
- Cross-checked: Fleet News, Carwow, Autocar and Autohome brand-rank reports all reconcile with the SMMT marque table (BYD rank 9, Jaecoo rank 14, Omoda rank 20, Tesla rank 35).
- Basis: SMMT total new car registrations (DVLA-cleansed). +11.7% YoY vs 140,154. Best July since 2019 and the eighth consecutive month of growth. BEV 43,106 units, a record 27.5% share, +44.5% YoY.
- SMMT marque table: smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/car-registrations/ (July 2026 By Brand tab)
- SMMT release date Wednesday 5 August 2026, 09:00 per smmt.co.uk/key-press-dates
- SMMT powertrain release: smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/electric-vehicle-registrations/
- Cross-check: fleetnews.co.uk — total 156,571, fleet+business 98,434, BEV +44.5% at 27.5% share
- Cross-check: carwow.co.uk/news/11123/smmt-new-car-registrations-july-2026 — top-10 model table (Jaecoo 7 4th, MG HS 5th, Jaecoo 5 7th)
- Chery group YoY computed from SMMT components: Chery 3,212 + Jaecoo 5,502 + Omoda 3,403 = 12,117 vs 3,789 in July 2025 = +219.8%
- DISCARDED SOURCE: a widely reposted Toutiao summary (article 7669794948094542359) circulated a July 2026 top-10 brand table whose figures sum to roughly 70% of the total market and closely mirror June’s numbers. It does not reconcile with the SMMT marque table and was not used.