NEV registrations hit another record in China over November

In China, sales of new energy cars reached a new high in November: According to estimates by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), around 732,000 new energy cars were sold – about 56,000 more than in the previous record month of October 2022.

While the registration level in September and October was roughly the same at 675,000 and 676,000 new energy vehicles, respectively, it went up again in November, specifically eight per cent more than in October 2022 and about 71 per cent more than in November 2021. However, this time the CPCA does not distinguish between battery-electric passenger cars and plug-in hybrids. It is probably safe to say that far more BEVs than PHEVs were sold in November. This is supported by the trend of the past months. In September and October, for example, around 75 per cent BEVs and 25 per cent PHEVs were sold in China within the New Energy Vehicles category.

Incidentally, the sources for the figures from China are unclear, because the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) also publishes statistics. In these, sales for November actually amount to 786,000 New Energy Vehicles, after 714,000 and 708,000 in the two previous months. The CAAM also distinguishes between battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids: 615,000 BEVs and 171,000 PHEVs are said to have been sold in November. So the sources differ on absolute sales, but hardly on the relative growth of the market. So the trend in China is definitely upwards. To make our China sales articles from previous months comparable, we are using the CPCA’s more conservative figures.

China’s leading manufacturers such as BYD, Tesla and SAIC-GM-Wuling “maintained good momentum” in November, as the CPCA states. Indeed, BYD posted its third record in a row. The manufacturer sold 229,942 New Energy Vehicles – up from 217,618 in October and 200,973 NEVs in September. Both BEVs (to 113,915 units) and PHEVs (116,027 units) increased. It is not known how many vehicles were exported – as is well known, the brand’s European launch is due in the fourth quarter.

Tesla sold more than 100,000 electric cars produced in China for the first time in November: 100,291 to be exact, of which 62,493 were sold in China and 37,798 exported. The sales figure represents an 89.73 per cent increase over the 52,859 vehicles sold in the same month last year and a 39.87 per cent increase over the 71,704 vehicles sold in October.

The end of the year in China is marked by the expiry of purchase bonuses at the turn of the year. According to the portal “CN EV Post”, Tesla reacted to this by changing the stated delivery time to Chinese customers for the Model 3 and Model Y from “in 1 to 5 weeks” to “December 2022” on 2 December. This is apparently intended to give Chinese consumers who still want to order a Tesla quickly the security of still being able to enjoy the bonuses.

BYD and Tesla are followed by a wide margin by the manufacturers GAC Aion, Neta, Nio and Zeekr – all with five-digit sales figures. GAC Aion recorded 28,765 BEV sales in November, slightly less than in October (30,063). Neta’s curve is also pointing slightly downwards with 15,072 battery-electric sales after the October mark (18,016). The opposite is true for Nio: 14,178 BEVs represent a clear increase over the previous month (10,059). Meanwhile, newcomer Zeekr’s sales reached five figures for the second time: Although the Geely brand has introduced its second model, the 009, the 11,011 BEVs in November are all still accounted for by the first model, the 001. This puts Zeekr ahead of Leapmotor (8,047 BEVs) and Xpeng (5,811 BEVs), which has to cope with a conspicuous decline for the second time after October. We had already reported on Xpeng’s weak second half of the year here.

With reporting by Cora Werwitzke, France.

cnevpost.com (CPCA), cnevpost.com (CAAM), cnevpost.com (BYD), cnevpost.com, cnevpost.com (beide China), cnevpost.com (GAC Aion), cnevpost.com (Neta), nio.com, cnevpost.com (Zeekr), cnevpost.com (Leapmotor), ir.xiaopeng.com