Good morning — and welcome to a new daily fixture here at EastAutoNews: our Daily Briefing video, launching today and dropping every morning with the region's auto headlines in a fast, focused format. Today's edition could hardly matter more for Eastern Europe: the arteries that carry cars into and across our region are being redrawn by Chinese logistics muscle, our charging networks are growing at record pace, and the continent's brand hierarchy has just registered a historic flip.
We start on the supply side. China's finished-vehicle logistics market is heading toward a USD 50.43 billion opportunity through 2031, powered by surging NEV exports and deepening port-rail-RoRo integration. The rail-sea corridors that carry those cars run through our region's backyard — and every efficiency gain on the Chinese side lands as faster, cheaper throughput at Central and Eastern European terminals.
The infrastructure to run them is scaling just as fast. Slovakia's public charging network nearly doubled over the past year — a record build-out — while in Croatia, Qelo has passed 2 GWh delivered through its Kempower chargers. For a region long criticized for lagging on charging, the map is being redrawn in real time, and the next phase looks steeper still.
And the demand side is shifting under everyone's feet: Chinese automakers introduced more than 70 models in Europe last year — more than double 2023 — and have now outsold their Japanese rivals on the continent for the first time. For dealers and buyers across Eastern Europe, the showroom landscape is changing faster than at any point in decades.
More models, more choice, more pressure on prices — which makes this a good moment to be shopping. Whether you're eyeing one of the new arrivals or a proven European workhorse, you'll find sensational cars at sensational conditions at WorldTrader24, Europe's marketplace with over 70,000 vehicles.
