The head of Britain’s post-Brexit trade watchdog has said it is ready to follow Brussels in launching an investigation into Chinese companies flooding the market for electric cars, but the government has not asked it to do so.

The European Commission launched an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) late last year after warning that global markets were being “flooded” with cheap imports from the world’s second largest economy.

Chinese carmakers including BYD and Nio are hoping to become big players in international markets after a sharp increase in production over recent years, with help from tax breaks, loans and other subsidies from Beijing.

China overtook Japan as the world’s largest car exporter last year, while the Shenzhen-based manufacturer BYD last quarter surpassed Elon Musk’s Tesla as the biggest-selling electric carmaker.

The EU estimates China’s share of EVs sold in Europe has grown to 8% and could hit 15% by 2025, while AutoTrader expects one-sixth of the UK market to be controlled by Chinese firms by the end of the decade.

Labour and the Conservatives have expressed desire to grow domestic EV manufacturing capacity, with the government offering £500m in subsidies to Tata, the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover, to build an electric car battery plant.

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