TOP 20 vehicle brands and models by June and H1 insurance registrations

Insurance registrations of locally-made passenger vehicles (PV) in China totaled 1,616,680 vehicles in June this year, a slight increase of 3% versus the same month of last year, and 5,559 vehicles less than the volume of May, according to data of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).

For the first half of this year, PV registrations of the biggest vehicle market jumped 32.6% to 9,962,275 vehicles from a low basis of the same period of last year, when the country’s auto market was hard hit by the pandemic.

On the TOP 20 brands list, compiled by Gasgoo, by monthly insurance registration, nearly half of the brands saw a year-on-year registrations drop. One of the reasons is the sales rebound in June, 2020 when pent-up demand was unleashed and sales increased significantly. And industry-wide shortage of automotive chips also affected deliveries. For example, Volkswagen China said that its second-quarter deliveries were challenged by the shortage for the group were unable to match production and high customer demand.

Thanks to the better performance at the beginning of this year, the majority of the 20 brands on the first-half registration list realized double-digit year-on-year growth, except Hyundai and Baojun, a PV brand from SAIC-GM-Wuling. Both brands' registrations had a respective decrease of 11.7% and 28.7%.

Half of the TOP 20 brands by first-half insurance registrations were local ones, but 4 brands out of the TOP 5 were foreign brands. And the combined volume (8,072,250) of the TOP 20 brands accounted for over 80% of the overall volume.

Tesla was on both the monthly list and the first-half list. In the first six months of this year, the insurance registrations of locally-made Tesla models surged 64.7% to 131,761 vehicles.  

In June, a total of more than 600 models were registered, but only one model had a registration volume of over 40,000 vehicles, 9,149 units more than that of the second most popular model. The total volume of the TOP 20 models took up 26.6% of the entire PV registrations. The last one on the list, the BMW X3, had a monthly volume of nearly 15,000 units, only couple hundred more than that of the following one, the 21st GL8.

The Tesla Model 3 ranked fifteenth on the monthly list with a volume of 16,995 vehicles, while the volume of the Wuling Hongguang MINIEV amounted to 28,608 vehicles.

All models on the TOP 20 first-half list saw a year-on-year increase. The first two models’ respective registrations surpassed 200,000 vehicles while the first 14 models had a volume of over 100,000 vehicles. And the TOP 20 models contributed 27% of the total volume.

Only four models on the first-half list came from Chinese brands, namely the Haval H6, the Hongguang MINIEV, the Changan CS75 plus and the Hongguang S series. Among the three models, Haval’s first-half registrations saw an increase of 37.21% from a year ago, the highest rate among the top three models. The cumulative registrations of the MINIEV totaled 157,218 vehicles, outselling such models as the Sagitar and the CR-V.

The new energy passenger vehicle (NEPV) segment had a much higher increase (up 172% year on year) in monthly registrations (218,949 vehicles) than the overall PV market while registrations of the TOP 20 brands accounted for 95.3% of the total NEPV volume.

16 brands on the TOP 20 NEV brands June list were local brands with BYD topping the monthly list and six of them were Chinese startups. Li Auto, with only one model for sale, got the highest ranking among NEV startups for the first time, namely the seventh spot. Tesla won the bronze medal with only 620 vehicles less than the volume of the runner up Wuling brand. Such global brands as Toyota, Honda, Volvo Cars and Mercedes-Benz were not on the list.

By first-half registrations, Wuling was the champion with 158,158 vehicles registered. The first three brands on the first-half registrations list had a clear lead over the rest brands, with ORA a distant fourth. Tesla surpassing BYD and ranking second, was one of the two foreign brands among the TOP 10 brands. The other one is VW.

In terms of models, the Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, the Tesla Model 3 and the Model Y were the top 3 models not only by monthly registrations but also by first-half registrations. But the MINIEV had a clear lead over both Tesla models thanks to its competitive price.

NIO had two models on the first-half list, but only one on the monthly list. The Li ONE, the XPeng P7, the WM EX5, the Nezha V and the Leapmotor T03 were all on both lists.