The overall car sales in China decreased in November, but the plug-in electric car market does not stop growing, not even for a while.
According to EV Volumes’ data, shared by Jose Pontes, some 625,205 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China in November, which is 50 percent more than a year ago and the second-best result ever (after 636,223 units in September).
Plug-in car share out of the total market improved to 35 percent and there is a big chance that it will move towards 40 percent in 2023.
Both all-electric and plug-in hybrid car sales improved quite noticeably. PHEVs were up 88 percent year-over-year, setting their seventh monthly record in a row. Nonetheless, the BEV segment is still much bigger than the PHEV one.
Results for the month:
- BEVs: about 453,000 (up 40%) and 25% share
- PHEVs: about 172,000 (up 88%) and 10% share
- Total: 625,205 (up 50%) and 35% share
So far this year, over 5.2 million new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China (almost twice more than a year ago). That’s also more than in the entire year of 2021.
- BEVs: about *3.85 million and 22% share
- PHEVs: about *1.40 million and 8% share
- Total: 5,250,007 and 30% 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).
According to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA)’s updated forecast, some 6 million passenger plug-in electric cars might be sold in China in 2022.
In terms of top-selling models in China, in November, BYD managed to put seven models in the top ten plug-in list, which speaks for itself.
The best-selling model happens to be the BYD Song Plus with over 64,000 sales (6,999 BEV and 57,146 PHEV units counted together).
The Tesla Model Y (52,424) was #2 as the only foreign model in the top 10, while the tiny Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV was the best of the rest with almost 32,000 units.
Top 10 for the month:
- BYD Song Plus (BEV + PHEV): 64,145
- Tesla Model Y: 52,424
- Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV: 31,982
- BYD Han (BEV + PHEV): 31,580
- BYD Dolphin: 26,029
- BYD Yuan Plus BEV: 26,004
- BYD Qin Plus (BEV + PHEV): 25,498
- BYD Tang (BEV + PHEV): 19,188
- BYD Seal: 15,356
- GAC Aion S: 15,323
* BEV and PHEV versions of the same models were counted together in the source.
Year-to-date, the BYD Song Plus finally overtook the Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV and is on a clear path to winning the 2022 best-selling plug-in car title (we are just waiting for the official sales results for the month of December).
There is a high probability that the BYD Song family will note a total of roughly 470,000 units in 2022, compared to 424,000 Wuling Hong Guang MINI EVs sold in 2021.
Meanwhile, the Tesla Model Y (286,220) – #4 after 11 months – is now pretty close to regaining the third position from BYD Qin Plus (291,930). As we can see, this list is also dominated by BYD (6 models out of the top 10).
Top 10 year-to-date:
- BYD Song Plus (BEV + PHEV): 406,296
- Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV: 389,475
- BYD Qin Plus (BEV + PHEV): 291,930
- Tesla Model Y: 286,220
- BYD Han (BEV + PHEV): 242,727
- BYD Dolphin: 178,600
- BYD Yuan Plus BEV: 167,812
- BYD Tang (BEV + PHEV): 128,724
- Tesla Model 3: 112,822
- GAC Aion Y: 105,376
After 11 months of the year, BYD further expanded its market share, moving towards one-third of the entire Chinese plug-in car segment. It might become the top OEM in the country.
Other brands and manufacturers (automotive group) appear to be losing ground, which is indicated by a shrinking market share in most cases. Well, Tesla rebounded by 0.3 percent, from the export-focused October, but that’s an exception. An interesting thing is that Changan noticeably improved its position to 3.8 percent.
Top brands by share in the plug-in segment year-to-date:
- BYD: 30.6%
- SAIC-GM-Wuling: 8.3%
- Tesla: 7.6%
- GAC: 4.6%
- Chery: 4.1%
- Changan: 3.8%
- Geely: 3.5%
- Volkswagen: 3.3%
Top automotive groups by share in the plug-in segment year-to-date:
- BYD: 30.7%
- SAIC: 10.8%
including SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture (between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Wuling Motors) - Tesla: 7.6%
- Geely-Volvo: 5.5%
- GAC: 4.9%
- Chery: 4.2%
- Dongfeng: 3.8%
- Volkswagen Group: 3.8%
- Changan: 3.8%
