China’s new energy passenger car wholesales surpass 1 million units in August 2024

Beijing (Gasgoo)- In August, China's new energy passenger vehicle (NEPV) production reached 1.051 million units, marking a 32.6% year-on-year surge and a 12.7% rise from July. NEPV wholesales reached 1.052 million units in the past month, jumping 31.7% year on year and 11.4% from the previous month, according to data provided by the China Passenger Car Association.

From January to August 2024, China’s NEPV production totaled 6.572 million units, growing 28.5% year over year, while wholesales stood at 6.622 million units, hiking up 30.2% from a year ago.

Last month, NEPVs accounted for 48.9% of the total passenger cars wholesaled by automakers in China, up 13.3 percentage points from 35.6% in the same month last year. Specifically, the monthly penetration rate for NEPVs among China’s indigenous brands was 63%, 43.2% for luxury brands, and only 7.8% for mainstream joint-venture brands.

Song L; photo credit: BYD

In regards of powertrain solutions, battery-electric vehicle (BEV) wholesales came in at 592,000 units in August, representing an increase of 6.6% year-on-year. Meanwhile, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) sold 345,000 units, which soared 84% from the previous year. Range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs) saw its monthly wholesale volume reach 115,000 units, which more than doubled year over year (+109% YoY) but dipped 6% from the previous month. The wholesale mix was made up by 56% BEVs, 33% PHEVs, and 11% REEVs.

In terms of specific models, 16 passenger car models realized a monthly wholesale volume of over 20,000 units in August, 10 were NEPVs (including the top 8), which were the Model Y (56,309 units), the BYD Song (53,786 units), the BYD Seagull (40,949 units), the BYD Seal 06 (40,015 units), the BYD Qin L (40,011 units), the BYD Qin (30,446 units), the Model 3 (30,388 units), the BYD Yuan (30,061 units), the Li L6 (24,897 units), and the Song L (23,007 units).

Model 3; photo credit: Tesla

Company-wise, in the past month, a total of 19 automakers saw their respective NEPV wholesale volume exceed 10,000 units, which was four more than that of a year ago and two more than that in July. These automakers’ NEPV wholesales accounted for 90.4% of the country’s total volume. The top three were BYD (370,854 units), Tesla China (86,697 units), and Geely (75,484 units).

As to China’s NEPV retail market, automakers in China sold 1.027 million NEPVs via retail last month, surging 43.2% year over year. In the first eight months of this year, China’s NEPV retail volume summed up to 6.016 million units, showing a 35.3% hike from a year ago.

SU7; photo credit: Xiaomi EV

NEPVs constituted 53.9% of the China’s total passenger car retail volume in August this year, climbing up 16.6 percentage points year on year.

Furthermore, 75.9% of the passenger cars retailed by China’s indigenous brands in the last month were NEPVs. Meanwhile, NEPVs made up a respective 33.5% and 8% of luxury vehicle brands and mainstream joint ventures’ retail volumes.

As to performance of new energy vehicle startups in the past month, driven by brands like Xiaomi EV, their NEPVs accounted for 16% of the country’s total volume. At the same time, Tesla’s vehicles nabbed 6.2% of the NEPV retail market in China, down 2.8 percentage points from a year ago.

Additionally, China’s NEPV exports reached 99,000 units in August, indicating a 23.7% year-on-year increase, and making up 24% of the total passenger car exports. Among the NEPVs shipped overseas last month, 80.8% were BEVs.

The top three NEPV exporters in August were BYD (30,451 units), Tesla China (23,241 units), and SAIC MOTOR Passenger Vehicle (5,128 units).