Trump’s tariffs dent U.S. auto reputation as Europeans turn to Chinese cars

Donald Trump’s tariff crusade is smashing what’s left of the ￰0￱ sector’s reputation in ￰1￱ numbers show buyers across the continent are turning away from American cars and leaning into Chinese brands. That’s data straight from Escalent’s Chinese Automotive Brands Impact report, which ran from May 21 to July 31 and surveyed 1,692 adults across Europe. Escalent’s vice president of powertrain innovation, KC Boyce, said it’s not just the cars. “Geopolitics, tariffs, trade deals, the ￰2￱ on Russia and Ukraine, is playing into European buyers’ sentiment about the ￰3￱ ￰4￱ brands,” KC told Yahoo ￰5￱ image American cars had, Trump’s global brawl over trade has dented ￰6￱ ditch ￰7￱ as trust drops hard In 2024, only 44% of Europeans said they would consider buying a car from the ￰8￱ year?

That number was 51%. At the same time, interest in Chinese vehicles rose from 31% to 47%. KC said interest in other countries’ brands also went up, except America’s. U.

S. carmakers were the only ones to fall ￰9￱ isn’t just about what people want to drive. It’s also about what they ￰10￱ said trust in Japanese goods went up to 54% from 50%, Korean goods rose to 34% from 30%, and Chinese goods climbed to 19% from 12%. The U.

S., on the other hand, dropped from 31% to 24%. That’s a crash, not a ￰11￱ also pointed out that affordability is part of the story. “Buyers in Europe expect Chinese vehicles to be cheaper,” he ￰12￱ that’s helping Chinese brands, even when their cars have better features than American ￰13￱ is king right now, and that’s where Chinese automakers are ￰14￱ vehicles are playing a role ￰15￱ still care about EVs more than ￰16￱ gives Chinese brands an edge. They’re flooding Europe with battery electric vehicles (BEVs), while American carmakers, especially U.

S. ones, are struggling to keep pace. “It does appear that European buyers tend to think of Chinese BEVs as being more trustworthy purchases,” KC said. China’s BYD races ahead as Tesla struggles Sales data shows that “trust” turning into ￰17￱ July, Tesla only managed 8,837 new car registrations in Europe, down 40.2% from the same month in ￰18￱ number covers the entire region, including the UK and EFTA.

Meanwhile, Chinese automaker BYD registered 13,503 vehicles. That’s a 225% increase. They’re not just competing. They’re ￰19￱ EV sales across Europe jumped 33.6% in ￰20￱ car registrations, regardless of powertrain, rose 5.9%.

So the market’s ￰21￱ American EVs are losing ￰22￱ if the ￰23￱ more cars at home, KC said the slide in Europe is part of a bigger trend. It’s not just about autos. It’s about how people in Europe view ￰24￱ in ￰25￱ right now, they’re not ￰26￱ Trump’s tariffs caused all of this is still up for ￰27￱ car shoppers from London to Luxembourg are already making up their minds, and they’re speaking with their ￰28￱ Bybit now and claim a $50 bonus in minutes