China's retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 223,000 units in June, up 169.9 percent year-over-year and 19.2 percent from May, according to data released Thursday by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Several companies sold more than 10,000 new energy passenger cars at retail in June, including BYD with 40,317 units, SAIC-GM-Wuling with 31,285 units, Tesla China with 28,138 units and GAC Aion with 10,403 units, according to the CPCA.

Wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China reached 227,000 units in June, up 14.7 percent from May and 165.7 percent year-over-year.

Among them, wholesale sales of pure electric vehicles reached 186,000 units, up 175.0 percent year-over-year, while sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles reached 41,000 units, up 130.4 percent year-over-year and accounting for 18 percent of the total.

China's new energy vehicle exports continued to grow in June, with Tesla China exporting 5,017 units, SAIC's new energy vehicles exporting 2,300 units, BYD at 215 units, and JAC Motors exporting 127 units.

Retail penetration of new energy vehicles in China was 14 percent in June, compared to 10.2 percent in January-June, a significant increase from the 2020 penetration rate of 5.8 percent, the CPCA said.

New energy vehicle penetration among local brands was 28.4 percent in June and 14.2 percent among luxury vehicles, compared with 2.2 percent among mainstream joint venture brands.

Wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China from January to June were 1.087 million units, up 231.5 percent year-over-year. Retail sales of new energy vehicles from January to June were 1.001 million units, up 218.9 percent year-over-year.

Tesla China's wholesale sales in June reached 33,155 units, up about 122% from a year earlier