Plug-in electric car sales in China in July once again exceeded the combined plug-in car sales for the rest of the world.
According to EV Volumes' data, shared by Jose Pontes, 658,546 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China in July, which is roughly 31 percent more than a year ago.
Such volume represents 38 percent of the total passenger car registrations in the country - a number far exceeding the United States or Europe's average.
The majority of rechargeable car registrations happen to be all-electric cars - roughly 450,000 and over a quarter of the total volume, compared to over 200,000 plug-in hybrids.
Results for the month:
- BEVs: *450,000 and 26% share
- PHEVs: *208,000 and 12% share
- Total: 658,546 (up 31% year-over-year) and 38% share
* estimated from the market share
Plug-in electric car sales in China – July 2023
So far this year, more than 3.9 million new plug-in electric cars have been registered in China (up roughly 36 percent year-over-year), which is about 36 percent of the total volume.
Results year-to-date:
- BEVs: about *2.64 million and 24% share
- PHEVs: about *1.25 million and 12% share
- Total: 3,920,195 (up 36% year-over-year) and 36% share
* estimated from the market share
For reference, in 2022, over 5.92 million new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China (30 percent of the total volume).
Model rank
In July, the slower sales of the Tesla Model Y (due to the focus on export) translated into an even higher domination of the Chinese plug-ins than usual. As we can see below, the top four best-selling models (and nine in the top ten) were Chinese.
The first spots were occupied by BYDs - Song, Qin, Dolphin, and Seagull. The last one is a small city car, which appears to now be significantly more popular than the fading Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV.
Top 10 plug-ins for the month:
- BYD Song Plus (7,590 BEVs + 42,850 PHEVs): 50,440
- BYD Qin Plus (11,455 BEVs + 30,700 PHEVs): 42,155
- BYD Dolphin: 31,650
- BYD Seagull: 28,001
- Tesla Model Y: 24,351
- BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) BEV: 23,614
- BYD Han (11,634 BEVs + 11,149 PHEVs): 22,783
- GAC Aion S: 22,437
- Wuling Bingo: 19,782
- Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV: 15,485
The top 10 least after the first seven months appears to be very similar. The Tesla Model Y still holds third place overall (and the first among BEVs), but the local competition is very strong.
Top 10 plug-ins year-to-date:
- BYD Song Plus (37,907 BEVs + 270,746 PHEVs): 308,653
- BYD Qin Plus (66,251 BEVs + 180,119 PHEVs): 246,370
- Tesla Model Y: 228,283
- BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) BEV: 189,202
- BYD Dolphin: 189,009
- GAC Aion S: 138,036
- Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV: 137,522
- BYD Han (59,090 BEVs + 59,506 PHEVs): 118,596
- GAC Aion Y: 107,413
- Tesla Model 3: 98,205
* BEV and PHEV versions of the same models were counted together in the source.
Brands
BYD is the most popular brand and automotive group in China, and this is not expected to change anytime soon.
Top brands by share in the plug-in segment in January-July:
- BYD: 35.5%
- Tesla: 8.4%
- GAC Aion: 6.5%
- SAIC-GM-Wuling: 5.9%
- Li Auto: 4.4%
Top automotive groups by share in the plug-in segment in January-July:
- BYD: 37.3%
including Denza brand - Tesla: 8.4%
- SAIC: 7.5%
including SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture (between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Wuling Motors) - GAC: 6.9%
- Geely-Volvo: 5.6%