China’s locally-made passenger vehicle registrations rise 9.69% YoY in July 2022

China's monthly registrations of locally-made passenger vehicles (“PVs”) reached 1,729,244 units in July 2022, climbing 9.69% from the previous year, while falling 7.76% from the previous month, according to the data compiled by Gasgoo Auto Research Institute (“GARI”).

For the first seven months of 2022, there were 10,595,723 domestically built PVs registered across the country, representing an 8.17% decrease from a year earlier, 2.83 percentage points fewer than the drop in Jan.-Jun. volume.

Regarding the July registrations of China-made PVs, the top two brands—Volkswagen and Toyota—were the same as that of the previous-month ranking. BYD surpassed Honda to the third place with most registrations contributed by new energy vehicles (“NEVs”). Aside from BYD, quite a few Chinese indigenous brands appeared on the top 20 brands list, such as Changan, Geely, Trumpchi, Haval, Chery, Dongfeng, Hongqi, and Roewe. The three German luxury brands—Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz—occupied the 10th to 12th places.

Notably, Tesla failed to score a seat on the top 20 brands list, moving down from the eighth spot in June. The U.S. brand had 8,933 China-made vehicles registered last month in the country, representing an 88.44% plunge from a month earlier mainly due to the production line retooling in the Gigafactory Shanghai and its focus on export business.

In terms of the PV registrations for the first seven months of 2022, the top three brands were Volkswagen, Toyota, and Honda. BYD was the highest-ranking Chinese local brand. Mercedes-Benz immediately followed BMW, while it stood two spots higher than Audi. Despite the sharp decrease in July registrations, Tesla still entered the top 20 brands list by Jan.-Jul. volume with only all-electric PVs for sale.

SGMW's Wuling Hongguang MINIEV was credited the best-selling PV model by July registrations despite a 10.73% decline year-over-year.

Apart from the Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, there were still three new energy vehicle (“NEV”) models among the top 20 models by July registrations, including two BEVs (the Yuan PLUS and the Dolphin) and one PHEV (the Song PLUS DM-i), which were all from BYD brand. The highest-ranking oil-fueled model was the Sylphy from Nissan brand.

Regarding the Jan.-Jul. registrations, the top three PV models were the same as that of the rankings by Jul. registrations. Tesla’s Model Y was honored the best-selling SUV model, outperforming the popular Haval H6.

As for luxury vehicles, the German big three all had models listed on the top 20 PV models by Jan.-Jul. registrations, of which the BMW 3 Series was the best-performing one.

Regarding the regional distribution, Shanghai registered the most homemade PVs in July, outselling the runner-up, Beijing, by 8,531 units. Chengdu dropped two spots from June to the fourth place, while Guangzhou’s No.3 place remained unchanged.

Among the top 20 cities by July PV registrations, there were eleven provincial capital cities. Such metropolises as Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Tianjin were all on the top 20 cities list.

The title-winning city by Jan.-Jul. 2022 PV registrations was Chengdu. Both Guangzhou and Beijing had over 200,000 new PVs registered through the first seven months. Affected by the epidemic resurgence, Shanghai ranked 4th by the Jan.-Jul. volume, while the registration gap between the above three ones was gradually narrowing.

After hitting the peak level in June, China's monthly locally-made new energy passenger vehicle (“NEPV”) registrations dropped 12.23% month on month to 439,094 units in July. However, compared to the year-ago period, China's July NEPV registrations still soared 104.86%.

By specific powertrain solution, BEVs posted a registration volume of 338,226 units in July, accounting for 77.03% of the total NEPV registrations. There were 100,868 PHEVs registered last month, including 19,664 REEVs.

Of the NEPVs registered in Jan.-Jul. 2022, 78.02% and 21.98% were contributed by BEVs and PHEVs (including REEVs), respectively.

According to data compiled by GARI, there were 3 fuel-cell passenger vehicles registered in the first seven months of this year.

Regarding the NEPV registrations in July, BYD topped other brands with a significant lead. It had 139,206 NEPVs registered last month, which were even more than the sum of the No.2-No.6 occupants.

XPeng ranked highest among Chinese NEV startups in terms of July NEPV registrations. Other main NEV innovators—NETA, Li Auto, Leapmotor, and NIO—all cracked into the top 20 brands list with over 10,000 vehicles registered.

BYD's leading presence in China's NEV market was also reflected by its Jan.-Jul. 2022 NEPV registrations. China's indigenous brands, such as Wuling, Chery, and Trumpchi (including AION), all entered the top 5 brand rankings by Jan.-Jul. NEPV registrations.

With respect to July registrations, the aforesaid Wuling Hongguang MINIEV was no doubt the best-selling NEPV model. On the top 20 NEPV models list, there were eight from BYD brand, six of which entered the top 10 rankings. The Li ONE features the biggest July registrations among those under Chinese NEV start-up brands.

In terms of Jan.-Jul. 2022 registrations, four models from Chinese NEV startups—the Li ONE, the NETA V, the XPeng P7, and the Leapmotor T03—came into the top 20 NEPV models list. Both the Model Y and the Model 3 gained a seat on the top 20 list as well.

Shanghai were the only city whose July NEPV registrations exceeded 20,000 units. Notably, NEPVs accounted for up to 42.1% of Shanghai's PV registrations in July. Shenzhen, Beijing, and Hangzhou all recorded a NEPV registration volume of over 16,000 units last month.

In Jan.-Jul. 2022, there were five cities with over 60,000 NEPVs registered each. Shenzhen and Shanghai also outperformed other cities with their Jan.-Jun. NEPV registrations both exceeding 100,000 units.