Sales of Chinese-made hybrid vehicles in the European Union have surged dramatically since 2024, when Brussels imposed anti-subsidy tariffs on fully electric Chinese cars — a move that appears to have pushed manufacturers to shift their exports toward hybrids instead. Data from Eurostat shows fully hybrid car sales from China rose from just 659 units in 2022 to over 160,000 in the first seven months of this year, while plug-in hybrid sales climbed from around 57,000 in 2022 to more than 217,000 over the same period. The scale of the increase has prompted Brussels to ask China to voluntarily limit hybrid exports or face potential trade measures such as quotas, and Germany's powerful automotive lobby (the VDA) has for the first time signalled openness to tariffs specifically targeting Chinese hybrids.