NEV sales in China at 780,000 vehicles

Around 780,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrids were sold in China in July, 31.6 per cent more than in the same month last year. Among the manufacturers, BYD continues to outpace the competition, but there is also movement among the startups.

However, sales are down slightly compared to the 806,000 so-called News Energy Vehicles (NEV) sold in June 2023. Still, with roughly 780,000 NEVs sold, Juliy was the second-best month in terms of sales this year. Around 541,000 BEVs and 239,000 PHEVs were sold in last month in China, according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Although fuel cell cars (FCEVs) also belong to the group of New Energy Vehicles, they play a minor role, with just 200 new registrations in July.

The 541,000 BEVs represent a year-on-year increase of 18.2 per cent, but compared to June (573,000 BEVs) a decline of 5.6 per cent. The 239,000 plug-in hybrids represent an annual growth of 77 per cent.

Across all powertrains, 2.39 million new cars hit Chinese roads in July (+1.4 per cent compared to July 2022, -9 per cent compared to June 2023). This brought the NEV share to 32.7 per cent. In June, the number of NEVs sold was higher (806,000 units), but their share was only 30.7 per cent.

Even though July was only the second-best NEV month in 2023, the same cannot be said for the market leader. With 262,161 NEVs, BYD exceeded the June result by almost 10,000 vehicles. This brings BYD’s year-to-date sales to 1,517,798. Measured against the 1.69 million vehicles in 2022 as a whole, this figure may sound good, but BYD is targeting three million units in 2023. The monthly figures must therefore continue to rise if BYD wants to sell another 1.5 million vehicles in the coming five months. For completeness, of the 262,161 NEVs, 261,105 are passenger cars and 1,056 are NEV commercial vehicles. The BEV to PHEV ratio is roughly 50:50.

Tesla‘s July statistics for China come to 64,285 electric cars, though about half of these (specifically 32,862 Model 3 and Model Y) were exported. This puts GAC Aion ahead of Tesla in terms of vehicles sold in China: GAC’s NEV brand comes in at just over 45,000 units for the third month in a row. In July, it was 45,025 units. Chinese carmaker Great Wall also increased its NEV sales to a new record, but Great Wall’s 28,896 units also include plug-in hybrids.

Among the EV startups, Nio stood out in July. The company reached 20,462 units, which is virtually double what it sold in both the previous year and in June. The fact that Nio reached more than 20,000 vehicles in one month for the first time was mainly due to the start of deliveries of the new mid-size SUV ES6, which will soon also be delivered in Europe.

Behind Nio, the field of startups and young brands remains close together: Leapmotor comes in at 14,335 New Energy Vehicles (the company also sells vehicles with range extenders), followed by Geely brand Zeekr with 12,039 BEVs, Xpeng with 11,008 BEVs and Neta with 10,038 NEVs.

From a German perspective, it is interesting to note that VW figures are now available again. With 12,922 electric cars, the Germans are even ahead of the new China partner Xpeng. A look at the models, however, reveals how the VW result came about: With 7,378 units, the ID.3 was the best-selling VW in China, but there is a huge discount promotion for this model. The ID.4 sold 4,031 units, the ID.6 1,513.

Smart is slightly above the level of the ID.4: the joint venture of Geely and Mercedes-Benz delivered 4,292 vehicles in China in July. This now includes the #1 as well as the #3, which has been delivered in China since 20 June.

cnevpost.com (CAAM), cnevpost.com (BYD), cnevpost.com (Tesla), cnevpost.com (GAC Aion), cnevpost.com (Great Wall), nio.com (Nio), cnevpost. com (Leapmotor), carnewschina.com (Volkswagen), cnevpost.com (Zeekr), xiaopeng.com (Xpeng), cnevpost.com (Neta), cnevpost.com (Smart), autonews.gasgoo.com (Avatr)