BYD tops other PV makers in China by April retail, wholesale volumes

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In April 2022, the retail sales of locally-made PVs (referring to cars, MPVs, SUVs and minibuses) in China amounted to around 1.062 million units, plunging 35.7% from a year earlier, while also tumbling 34% compared to the previous month, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

The CPCA said both the year-on-year and month-on-month change in China's April PV retail sales dropped to their historic low level for the corresponding month.

The two-digit decrease was largely linked to the pandemic resurgence, which whittled down the footfall and transaction volume at dealerships, the CPCA added.

A year-on-year decrease of over 30% in April retail sales confronted all four segments—the car, MPV, SUV, and minibus.

Last month, there were around 120,000 locally-produced luxury vehicles retailed across the country, reflecting a 54% year-on-year plunge and a 50% month-on-month drop.

Chinese indigenous brands recorded total PV retail sales of about 480,000 units in April, representing a 19% decline from the previous year, while also showing a 37% flop from the previous month. They accounted for 46.4% of China’s overall homemade PV retail volume, up 9.6 percentage points compared to the year-ago period.

The retail sales of mainstream joint-venture PV brands added up to 450,000 units in April, shrinking 42% over a year earlier, while also falling 24% over a month earlier.

Among the top 10 automakers by domestic China-made PV retail sales in April, BYD ranked highest in terms of both sales volume and year-on-year growth. Notably, it was the only one to achieve a positive change from the prior-year period. SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM dropped to the ninth and tenth places respectively, and both of them logged a year-on-year decrease of over 50%.

As for the first four months of 2022, China's homemade PV retail sales were down by 12.1% from a year ago with all four segments posting a double-digit decline as well.

The production volume of locally-made PVs in China amounted to 987,000 units in April, slumping 41.4% from the year-ago period. To be specific, the luxury brands, joint-venture brands and China's self-owned brands faced a year-on-year decline of 57%, 56% and 20% respectively.

In April, the wholesales volume of the country's locally-made PVs declined at a rate of over 40% compared to both the previous year and the previous month.

The year-to-date PV wholesales fell 4.2% year on year. Despite the overall downturn, the minibus unit still gained a two-digit increase.

Regarding automakers' wholesale performance, BYD still outsold others with a three-digit year-on-year increase. The decline in April wholesales of Dongfeng Nissan and FAW-Volkswagen exceeded 50%. Both SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM failed to crack the top 10 PV maker rankings by April wholesales.