A George Town dealership says demand for Chinese-built cars in the Cayman Islands has risen sharply over the past year, a claim that arrives as the import tariff and government energy policy both favour the electric and hybrid models the brands sell, and as the public data that would test it remains unpublished.

Tony's Toys, which describes itself as the Cayman Islands' only stockist of BYD and Jetour, said in a statement issued in November that demand has climbed since October 2025 and that vehicles are selling within days of arrival. The company gave no sales figures. The statement was issued through a public relations agency and is the dealership's own account of its trade.

"A few years ago, people would ask us what BYD even was," said Tony Williams, Managing Director of Tony's Toys. "Now they're putting their names down for cars that are still on the ship. Chinese cars have changed the automotive landscape in Cayman, and it's happened faster than anyone expected."

The dealership's explanation

Williams attributes the rise to value, technology and running costs. Both brands are sold in Cayman with internal combustion engine and plug-in hybrid ranges, and the company says the hybrids suit island driving, where daily distances are short and fuel prices are high. It quotes an electric-only range of 120 to 150 miles on a single charge, a manufacturer figure rather than one measured in Cayman. Range is the usual objection to electric driving in larger markets, and it carries less weight in Grand Cayman, which is 22 miles long and eight miles at its widest point, where a full charge at the quoted figure would cover several days of commuting and the petrol engine remains available for the rest. The range figure itself, and how it holds up in Cayman heat with air conditioning running, is untested by anyone other than the manufacturer.

Where the brands come from

The two marques come from different corners of China's car industry. BYD, listed in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, reported sales of 4,602,436 new energy vehicles in 2025, of which 1,046,083 were sold outside China, according to its monthly company reports. Jetour was launched in January 2018 as a brand of Chery, one of China's largest state-backed car makers.

Both are part of an export surge. China shipped 8.32 million vehicles abroad in 2025, a rise of 29.9% on the previous year, according to data compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers from the General Administration of Customs and published on 5 February 2026.

Growth abroad has not meant growth in profit. BYD's annual report, released on 27 March 2026, recorded revenue of 803.97 billion yuan for 2025, up 3.46%, but net profit down 19% to 32.62 billion yuan, with gross margin narrowing to 17.74% from 19.44%. The company said "persistent price wars and a highly competitive environment are squeezing automakers' profit margins".

The established manufacturers are losing ground in markets they once dominated. In Thailand, the combined share of nine Japanese carmakers fell to 69.8% in the first ten months of 2025, down 6.6 percentage points on the same period of 2024, and in Indonesia it fell to 82.9%, according to figures reported by The Japan News on 7 January 2026. In China itself, Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda produced a combined 1.02 million vehicles between April and September 2026, 32% fewer than a year earlier and the lowest for that period since 2008, with Honda's output down 60% and Nissan's down 49%, according to Gasgoo on 3 November 2026. No equivalent figures by manufacturer exist for the Cayman Islands.

The pressure has reached the premium end of the market. Mercedes-Benz Group reported on 13 February 2026 that its net profit for 2025 fell 48.8% to 5.33 billion euros, on revenue down 9.2% to 132.2 billion euros and car sales down 9.2% to 1.8 million vehicles, which it attributed to global tariffs, currency movements and "intense competition in China".

The UK, whose registration data is published monthly by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, offers a measure of how quickly the shift can move. Chinese carmakers took 9.7% of UK new car registrations in 2025, close to 200,000 vehicles, and 12.7% of electric vehicle sales, with BYD's registrations up 485% on the year, according to SMMT data analysed by Car Dealer Magazine on 7 January 2026. By July 2026 the trade body's Chief Executive, Mike Hawes, was warning that Chinese brands were pushing established manufacturers into deeper discounting, with their share by then put at roughly 15%. Cayman publishes no comparable monthly series.

Policy and tariff

Government policy favours the category. The National Energy Policy 2024-2045, adopted by Cabinet on 16 April 2024, sets a target for 30% of all new light-duty vehicle sales and imports to be electric by 2030, rising to 100% by 2045, and commits government to holding import duty on electric vehicles at zero for a further five years. The policy also says government will "explore increasing duties for inefficient vehicles".

Under the current tariff, electric vehicles for personal use valued at up to CI$29,999 are imported duty free, hybrids under the same value attract 10%, and conventional petrol and diesel cars are charged between 22% and 42%. The Department of Vehicle and Drivers' Licensing recorded 648 licensed electric vehicles in 2024, according to a Chamber of Commerce briefing published on 7 April 2025.

What the public record shows

The size of the market the dealership is describing is only partly on the public record. DVDL's own website says its records showed 67,167 registered vehicles and 54,463 driving licences as of December 2020. A National Road Safety Committee statement issued with DVDL on 27 March 2024 put active vehicle registrations at more than 50,000 and licensed drivers at 62,798. The Cayman Resident guide, citing official sources, lists 50,343 actively licensed vehicles and a further 11,798 unlicensed vehicles by mid-2025, with 781 electric and 1,060 hybrid vehicles licensed, and 4,551 cars imported in 2024.

None of those figures is broken down by manufacturer, so whether Chinese brands are gaining share cannot be tested from anything published. The Caymanian Journal (TCJ) submitted a request by email to DVDL under the Freedom of Information Act (2021 Revision) on 17 August 2026 for the number of vehicles on the Register of Motor Vehicles aggregated by make, model, year, vehicle type, registration status and fuel or propulsion type. DVDL acknowledged the request on 21 August 2026, assigned it reference 118964 and said a substantive response would follow within the statutory timeframe. No substantive response had been received at the time of publication. The figures requested would show how many BYD and Jetour vehicles are registered and how that compares with other makes.