# Euro NCAP's button rule hits Chinese brands that are a sliver of UK lots: BYD 0.4% of listings, MG 2.0%

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> Euro NCAP rewards physical buttons and Chinese models score lower. On UK lots BYD is 0.4% of listings and MG 2.0%, per MarketCheck data.

*UK listings, Oct 19, 2026: MG 2.0%, BYD 0.4%, Leapmotor 0.04%*

MarketCheck Market Insights · UK and Canada · UK · Oct 19, 2026 · Week of Oct 19, 2026

Carwow reported on Oct 12, 2026 that Euro NCAP's updated safety tests reward physical controls for indicators, wipers, hazard lights, horn and eCall over touchscreen menus, and that Chinese models are marked down on this more often than European ones. MarketCheck data for the UK shows how much dealer stock that rule currently touches: on Oct 19, 2026 there were 11,255 MG listings and 2,581 BYD listings out of 575,015 UK listings, so MG is 2.0% of listings and BYD 0.4%. No Chinese brand appears in the top 12 UK makes, where Hyundai sits twelfth with 18,758 listings. The rating question therefore reads as one about future supply rather than about the cars sitting on UK forecourts this week.

## What the data shows

| Make, UK | Listings (Oct 19, 2026) | Share of UK listings (%) | Median asking price (GBP) | Middle half of asking prices (GBP) | Median days on market (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All UK listings | 575,015 | 100 | 15,390 | 9,520 to 22,895 | 55 |
| Ford (largest make) | 58,807 | 10.2 | not pulled | not pulled | not pulled |
| BMW | 42,934 | 7.5 | 22,619 | 13,761 to 34,176 | 70 |
| Hyundai (12th make) | 18,758 | 3.3 | not pulled | not pulled | not pulled |
| MG | 11,255 | 2.0 | 14,893 | 12,248 to 19,301 | 36 |
| BYD | 2,581 | 0.4 | 25,239 | 23,785 to 27,056 | 26 |
| Leapmotor | 256 | 0.04 | 28,646 | 25,699 to 31,998 | 24 |

MG prices below the market median at £14,893 while BYD at £25,239 and Leapmotor at £28,646 sit well above the £15,390 median for all UK listings, and all three Chinese makes show fewer median days listed than BMW at 70 days or the market at 55 days. MarketCheck's live UK data could not be split into new and used stock for this piece, so the figures cover both.

## Why it matters

- **Exposure on UK lots is small today.** 11,255 MG listings and 2,581 BYD listings out of 575,015 is a thin slice of what shoppers see when they search UK dealer websites. A testing change that falls hardest on Chinese models meets a small installed base of those models in dealer stock.

- **The lowest reported scorer has the youngest supply.** Carwow reports the Leapmotor B05 scored 0% on key driving controls. MarketCheck data shows 256 Leapmotor listings at a median asking price of £28,646 and 24 median days listed, so a weak reported score lands while the brand is still building recognition with UK buyers.

- **Chinese stock is currently moving quickly through listings.** The median BYD listing has been on sale 26 days and the median Leapmotor listing 24 days, against 70 for BMW and 55 for all UK listings. Days on market here measures how long current stock has been listed, not time to sale, so it is an early read on interest rather than a sales figure.

- **Chinese EVs sit above the market on price.** BYD's median asking price of £25,239 is well above the £15,390 market median. Shoppers comparing at that level can weigh the 20% and 0% controls scores Carwow reports for several Chinese models against the 100% it reports for the BMW iX3 and the Audi Q7.

- **The supply gap is narrowing slowly.** MarketCheck data shows about 16.6 BMW listings for every BYD listing on Oct 19, 2026, against 18 in MarketCheck research published Oct 12, 2026. Chinese stock is growing into a market whose safety benchmark now includes physical controls.

## What to watch

- BYD and Leapmotor median days listed: a rise from 26 and 24 days toward the market's 55 would suggest shoppers are weighing the controls scores, and dealers can adjust stocking before touching price.
- Euro NCAP's published 2026 results. The scores Carwow reports could not be confirmed against published results, so official figures are the next checkpoint.
- Which Chinese makes add physical controls, as the Geely EX2 reportedly has at 80%. Model-year changes would split Chinese stock into compliant and non-compliant cars on UK lots.
- MG pricing, at a median £14,893 against the market's £15,390. Any widening gap would show the rating debate reaching the largest Chinese-owned brand's used asking prices.

## How this was measured

UK dealer website listings, new and used combined, on Oct 19, 2026; shares are listings divided by all UK listings; BMW per BYD is the ratio of the two listing counts; medians are asking prices and days listed, not transaction prices or time to sale. Prices shown are dealer asking prices, and medians and quartiles are taken across listings. One car can appear on more than one site. The source is MarketCheck data, live UK dealer website inventory, read through the Inventory Search API, GET /v2/search/car/active (https://docs.marketcheck.com/docs/api/cars/inventory/inventory-search), using make facets and price and days-on-market statistics, with a new-only query that returned no listings, so no new-used split was possible. A new-car-only facet call was attempted on the same endpoint. API keys: https://developers.marketcheck.com.

## The story we checked

"New Euro NCAP safety testing procedures highlight the difference between Chinese and European models", Carwow, Oct 12, 2026. Fact-check tally: 3 verified, 1 unverifiable. Verified: that Euro NCAP's 2026 protocols require indicators, wipers and washer, hazard lights, horn and eCall to be operated by direct physical input for full credit; that Chinese models are marked down on physical controls more often than European ones; and that Chinese brands remain a small share of UK dealer stock, with MG at 2.0% and BYD at 0.4% of listings on Oct 19, 2026 and none in the top 12 makes. Unverifiable: the reported scores of 0% for the Leapmotor B05, 100% for the BMW iX3 and Audi Q7 and 80% for the Geely EX2, which come from the story alone, with no published 2026 Euro NCAP results found.

You can run the same read in MarketCheck AI Desk: https://ai.marketcheck.com/install.

## Reproduce this

- **search_active_cars**: Ask for live UK dealer listings by make, with listing counts, median asking price and median days listed for MG, BYD, Leapmotor and BMW.
- **search_active_cars**: Ask for all UK active listings with no make filter to get the 575,015 baseline and the market median asking price and days listed.
- **generate_full_market_capture**: Pull every listing in one postcode market to see how Chinese brands show up locally against the national shares.

**The story we checked:** [New Euro NCAP safety testing procedures highlight the difference between Chinese and European models](https://www.carwow.co.uk/news/11395/euro-ncap-tests-favour-cars-with-physical-buttons), Carwow, Oct 12, 2026