Roscongress Foundation review: global car market last year exceeded the pre-pandemic level for the first time since COVID-19

Having demonstrated strong growth in 2024, the global automotive market has exceeded the pre-pandemic level for the first time since COVID-19. This is stated in the analytical review ‘The Global Automotive Market: Trends, Transformation, and Tariff Wars’ prepared by the experts of the Roscongress Foundation.

According to the German Automotive Industry Association (VDA), global sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles totalled 78.5 million units in 2024, up 3% on 2023 and finally surpassing the pre-pandemic level. Germany’s forecast for 2025 foresees further growth of 2% to 80.4 million vehicles. According to Scotiabank, the 80 million milestone will not be crossed this year, but the market as a whole has continued to grow and recover over the past 4 years.

Revenue figures show that the structure of the global automotive market remains relatively stable. The dominance of automotive concerns from Germany, Japan, the USA, and South Korea has remained unchanged over the past decade. China’s SAIC rounds out the top ten leading manufacturers in terms of revenue. It is also the only one from China in this ranking.

At the same time, SAIC increased its passenger car output by 42.4% last year, selling 3.80 million units. Meanwhile, the Toyota Group, which ranks first in terms of production volume, showed a 3.7% drop in output to 10.82 million passenger cars. The Volkswagen Group, which follows it, also showed negative dynamics – a decrease of 1.3% to 8.28 million cars.

Tesla, despite its leadership in the electric car segment, is still not among the top ten largest car companies in terms of revenue or production volume. At the same time, the Y model’s retention of its status as the world’s best-selling car in 2024, surpassing the Toyota Corolla in this respect, indicates the transformation of consumer preferences and the maturity of the electric car market as a mass product.

The leader status in the promising electric vehicle segment has passed to BYD and other manufacturers from China. The face of transport with electric motors will become Chinese faster than it happened with traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. It took China almost a quarter of a century and a proactive policy of transferring production and technology to China to take a 40% share in the production of internal combustion engine vehicles. In the case of electric cars, Chinese developments are already in many cases no worse than American or European ones, and battery technologies, judging by their technical characteristics, are comparable to Japanese or South Korean ones.

The survey also notes that in response to trade wars and geopolitical tensions, manufacturers will seek to reduce dependence on global supply chains by creating fully integrated manufacturing clusters in key regions.

The full analytical review is available on the Roscongress website and its Zen channel.