Summary: BAIC leads new energy automobile sales in 2017 Q1

According to statistics released by the China Passenger Car Association, a total of 49,500 new energy passenger automobiles were sold in the country over the first quarter of the year. BAIC led the sales charts by a large margin. It was followed by BYD, Geely, SAIC and Zotye. These five manufacturers accounted for 80.7% of all new energy automobile sales made. Further down on the sales charts were JMC, JAC, Changan, Chery and Denza.

BAIC was the indisputable leader in the new energy car market, with a total of 12,700 units sold. Over a quarter of all new energy car sales were BAIC models. All of BAIC’s models are pure electric vehicles. Among them the most successful was the EC series, whose sales totaled 7,129 units.

BYD ranked second in the sales charts, with a total of 8,600 units sold in the quarter. BYD branded models accounted for 17.37% of all new energy automobiles sold in the country. BYD was the largest seller of new energy vehicles in 2016, with one-third of all new energy vehicles sold in the country in November being BYD models.

BYD sells both pure electric and plug-in hybrid models. Sales of the BYD’s best-selling model, the Tang, fell slightly due to issues with its Internet-booking system and subsidy programs. BYD has recently launched two new models in April: the Song EV300 and Song DM, which should help boost the manufacturer’s sales in the following quarter.

Geely sold a total of 7,702 new energy vehicles over the first quarter of the year, accounting for 15.56% of all new energy vehicles sales made in the country. The figure represents an upturn for the own brand manufacturer. Geely’s models are all pure electrics, with its D2 ranking as the second best-selling electric model of the season.

SAIC’s new energy automobile sales in the first quarter totaled 6,149 units, accounting for a market share of 12.42%. SAIC’s Roewe line of new energy vehicles are all plug-in hybrids.

Zotye sold 4,815 new energy vehicles in the first quarter of the year. The manufacturer holds a 9.72% share in the Chinese new energy automobile market. Its best selling new energy automobile model is the Zotye E200, whose sales totaled 2,166 units. All of Zotye’s new energy automobile models are pure electric models.