Against all challenges in the economy, the automotive industry in specific and ongoing COVID-19 lockdown issues, plug-in electric car sales amaze.
According to EV Volumes' data shared by Jose Pontes, some 458,273 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China in March, which is 118% more than a year ago and the second-highest monthly volume ever. For reference, that's about half of the global plug-in car sales.
Not only that, the share of plug-in cars improved once again, reaching 26%, including 21% for all-electric cars. The remaining 5% are plug-in hybrids.
- BEVs: about *370,000 and 21% share
- PHEVs: about *88,000 and 5% share
- Total: 458,273 (up 118%) and 26% share
* estimated from the market share
Plug-in electric car sales in China – March 2022
So far this year, over 1.1 million new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China, while the market share reached 21% (16% BEVs).
- BEVs: about *0.86 million and 16% share
- PHEVs: about *0.27 million and 5% share
- Total: 1,124,490 (up 130%) and 21% share
* estimated from the market share
For reference, in 2021, the total plug-in electric car registrations increased by about 153% year-over-year to over 3.2 million (from 1.27 million in 2020). In 2022, the total volume might reach 5-6 million, according to some forecasts.
Model rank
The top-selling models in China in March were the Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV (47,563), Tesla Model Y (39,339), Tesla Model 3 (25,736), BYD Song Pro/Plus PHEV (22,381) and BYD Qin Plus PHEV (14,260).
After the first quarter, we can see a sea of Chinese plug-ins (17 in the top 20) with a strong position of two locally made Tesla models (Model 3 and Model Y). It's worth noting that the locally made Volkswagen ID.4 is #20 with 14,729 units.
Only time will tell whether other foreign brands will be able to get into the top 20 this year.
Results year-to-date:
- Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV - 100,361
- Tesla Model Y - 74,290
- BYD Song Pro/Plus PHEV - 57,849
- BYD Qin Plus PHEV - 46,952
- Tesla Model 3 - 33,331
- Li Xiang One EREV - 31,716
- BYD Dolphin - 29,668
- BYD Han (BEV) - 29,171
- Chery QQ Ice Cream - 28,113
- BYD Tang PHEV - 27,929
Brands
The list of brands reveals a pretty strong position for BYD, which is now offering only rechargeable models and was able to deliver 100,000+ in a single month.
Top plug-in brands by share in the plug-in segment year-to-date:
- BYD: 25.3%
- SAIC-GM-Wuling: 10.2%
- Tesla: 9.6%
- Chery: 4.7%
- GAC: 4.0%
Top plug-in automotive groups by share in the plug-in segment year-to-date:
- BYD: 25.3%
- SAIC: 13.7%
including SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture (between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Wuling Motors) - Tesla: 9.6%
- Chery: 4.7%
- Geely-Volvo: 4.5%
- Volkswagen Group: 3.7%
