Around 806,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrids were sold in China in June, as the monthly figures of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) now published show. This means that sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China recorded the second-highest figure after December 2022.
Since the slow start of the year, the market in China is picking up again. As reported, 636,000 new NEVs hit the roads in China in April 2023, 717,000 in May 2023 and now 806,000 in June. The growth in each case is a good twelve per cent. The CAAM statistics also show: June sales are approaching the 814,000 NEV sales mark from December 2022 again for the first time. This is the best monthly figure from China so far, which is partly due to the subsidies that expired at the turn of the year.
Compared to the same month last year (June 2022: 571,000 NEVs), electric car sales in China increased by 35.2 per cent this June. In total, 573,000 BEVs and 232,000 PHEVs were sold last month, representing year-on-year growth of around 20 per cent (BEV) and 93 per cent (PHEV) respectively. Fuel cell vehicle sales increased by 110 per cent compared to June 2022, but remain at an extremely low level of around 1,000 units.
In terms of production, the CAAM shows 784,000 NEV units for June, up 32.8 per cent from June 2022 and 10 per cent from May 2023. Across all powertrain types, 2.62 million new vehicles hit the road in China in June. Compared to June 2022, this is an increase of 4.8 per cent. Compared to May, sales increased by 10.1 per cent, and by 12.4 per cent for new energy vehicles – a figure almost in line with the overall market average. Also interesting: exports of NEVs totalled 78,000 units last month, up 170 per cent year-on-year and down 28.4 per cent from May.
As of the first half of 2023, the CAAM statistics provide the following conclusion: NEV sales registered in China between January and June amount to 3,745,000 units, an increase of 44.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2022. NEVs thus accounted for 28.3 per cent of the total market (13,239,000 vehicles sold). BEVs accounted for 2,719,000 sales in the first half of 2023, an increase of 10.3 per cent year-on-year.
A look at the manufacturers shows the usual picture: BYD is the lone leader with 253,046 NEVs, which is a new record. The passenger car segment accounted for 251,685 units (128,196 BEV + 123,489 PHEV). Only a small proportion of BYD vehicles were exported – specifically 10,536 NEVs, which is 3.3 per cent more than in May. BYD aims to sell at least 3 million vehicles this year – the company’s chairman and president Wang Chuanfu had made this public at the end of March. After the first half of the year, BYD ranks at 1.26 million.
Second place is also held by Tesla thanks to 93,680 BEVs sold. Of these, 19,468 were exported. The June result means 4.8 per cent fewer sales than in June 2022, but 74.6 per cent more than in May. It is also notable that Tesla always sells more vehicles in the last month of a quarter than in the previous two months.
GAC Aion comes in third with 45,013 BEVs – which is almost exactly the same as the previous month. Among the other Chinese EV start-ups, June went as follows: Leapmotor continues to rise and now has 13,209 NEVs. Neta, in fifth place, sold 12,132 BEVs, Nio, in sixth position, recorded a five-digit sales figure again for the first time (10,707 BEVs), as did Zeekr (10,620 BEVs), whose third model went into production in June. Just below that is Xpeng with 8,620 BEVs.
cnevpost.com (CAAM), cnevpost.com (BYD), cnevpost.com (Tesla), cnevpost.com (GAC Aion), cnevpost.com (Neta), ir.nio.com, cnevpost.com (Zeekr), ir.xiaopeng.com (Xpeng), cnevpost.com (Leapmotor)
Keyword: Over 800,000 NEVs sold in China over June