China marks continued NEV sales growth

In October, 368,000 new energy vehicles were sold in China, an increase over both the same month last year and the previous month. However, the best-selling NEV in October did not come from BYD or Tesla.

The 368,000 NEVs in October represent an increase of 148.1 per cent compared to the same month last year – when there were only 144,000 units – and 6.3 per cent compared to September. The figures were published by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Of these, 303,000 units were all-battery electric cars and 65,000 were plug-in hybrids – a split of 82.3 to 17.7 per cent. Of the 368,000 vehicles, 321,000 were NEV cars and consequently, 47,000 were commercial vehicles. In the current year, sales of NEV passenger cars total 2.38 million vehicles, an increase of 204.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.

In terms of absolute NEV sales, BYD remains the frontrunner. The manufacturer sold 81,040 New Energy Vehicles in October, 249 per cent more than in the same month last year and 14 per cent more than in September. Of these, however, only 41,232 passenger cars were pure BEVs (up 176 per cent on October 2020); 38,771 plug-in hybrids were also sold (up 444 per cent) – plus 1,037 NEV commercial vehicles.

In the BEV passenger car segment – as has been the case in recent months – Tesla is leading the way. The US manufacturer sold 54,391 vehicles built in China in October. In October 2020, the figure was 12,143 electric cars, so in October 2021 this corresponds to an increase of 348 per cent. According to the CPCA data, however, only 13,725 Teslas remained in China, with 40,666 of the vehicles built in Giga Shanghai going for export. This is known to be exclusively the Model 3 and Model Y, a breakdown between the two models is not available. In October, Tesla also opened its 1,000th Supercharger station in Mainland China and built a new R&D centre in Shanghai.

Filtered by individual models, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV came out on top in October – with 47,834 sales, the small electric vehicle was behind Tesla among manufacturers, but still ahead of all BYD models. The vehicle is built by SAIC-GM-Wuling.

Among manufacturers, GAC Aion follows with 13,189 sales in October, again only battery-electric cars. Compared to the previous year, this is a significant increase of 112 per cent, but compared to September (13,586 sales) a slight minus of 2.9 per cent. The limiting factor here was apparently production: according to GAC, 23,000 orders were received for the Aion models in October, primarily for the Aion Y e-SUV.

This put GAC Aion just ahead of Volkswagen: the Wolfsburg company sold 12,736 units of its ID. family in October, 25.8 per cent more than in September. According to the portal Gasgoo, this includes 1,255 ID.3s, even though the compact BEV has only been on sale since October. According to the report, the growth at VW is not only due to the additional model: Allegedly, some dealers have granted discounts of up to 10,000 yuan (1,352 euros), although Volkswagen relies on uniform prices in China.

Close behind Volkswagen are the JAC Group with 11,000 BEV sales and Xpeng with 10,138 electric cars. At the much-noticed start-up, the P7 e-sedan accounted for 6,044 units (+187 per cent), the G3/G3i for 3,657 units and the P5, which has been delivered since September, for 437 units. The supplier WM Motor sold 5,025 units.

Nio had a weaker month – the company has usually been on par with Xpeng in the last few months. While some of its competitors recorded triple-digit growth rates compared to October 2020, Nio’s sales actually fell by 27.5 per cent – to 3,667 vehicles. According to Nio, however, these are one-off effects due to “restructuring and modernisation of the production lines as well as preparation for the introduction of new products”.

With reporting by Sebastian Schaal, Germany.

cnevpost.com (total market), cnevpost.com (BYD), cnevpost.com (Tesla), cnevpost.com (Wuling), cnevpost.com (GAC Aion), gasgoo.com (VW), gasgoo.com (JAC), xiaopeng.com (Xpeng), gasgoo.com (WM Motor), nio.com (Nio)