China is the top car building nation in the world, and it’s just getting started

How’s this for a daringly dominant duo? China and India each increased output at their domestic car plants by almost 50 per cent between 2019 and 2025. Over the same period, Britain, Russia, USA, Italy and Canada all saw their production numbers plunge by a similar percentage.

Put another way, after Asia long ago established itself as the most productive continent, it has lately been rubbing chilli powder into the wounds of most manufacturers in Europe. It also seems to be doing its best to obliterate the ailing North American car industry: Mexican output was heavily down over the years in question; production in Canada plummeted at an even more punishing rate; the USA suffered the greatest and most agonising drops. 

As for the one-year period (January to December 2025) just gone, here’s my Top 30 measuring how woefully or brilliantly car-producing nations performed. Sorry, Belgium, but you’re rock-bottom of the table, with Italy, Canada, Portugal and Sweden just above you. A tad more productive were Poland, South Africa, Hungary and Uzbekistan. But these nine countries each churned out only between 200,000 and 430,000 cars last year, so they’re small fry. I’m particularly worried about Italy, because it looks increasingly lost and low volume as a fidgety member of the French/American-dominated Stellantis clan.

Underdogs Morocco, Thailand and Romania each built between 500,000 and 550,000. Rapidly rising Malaysia, deeply declining Russia and steadily slumping Britain made 700,000 cars apiece. Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey manufactured roughly 900,000 each. 

France just about regained its status as a producer of one million cars annually; Slovakia did astonishingly well to overtake it – just. There’s confusion/secrecy about how many cars Iran made, but based on its 2024 numbers, circa 1m is my guess. America produced 1.3m. 

The Czech Republic (1.5m) and Spain (1.8m) each produced more than twice as many cars as Britain. Therefore, it’s time for an inquest into why our country has defied logic, lost its common sense and abandoned its industrial strategy (assuming it had one in the first place) by allowing the Czechs and Spanish to overtake us, when they have only a handful of manufacturers, and we’re blessed with scores of mainstream, small and specialist makers. 

Brazil (2m) continued to punch above its weight, as did South Korea (3.8m), while an allegedly weakened Germany (4.1m) still looked fighting fit, and ambitious India (5.4m) chased and gained on Japan (7.2m), which has, I suspect, peaked. China (31m) didn’t merely hold onto the No.1 slot, it took undisputed ownership of it. Which country might eventually catch up with and overtake it? I don’t believe there is one. 

As things stand, even the collective might of Europe, North America and South America can’t come close to matching – never mind surpassing – car factory output inside the scarily expanding, still in warm-up-mode nation that is China.

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