Shanghai (ZXZC)- China’s new energy passenger vehicle (PV) wholesale volume in April reached 91,700 units, jumping 28% from a year ago, which was much more vigorous than the -17.4% growth for overall PV market, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

During the past four months, a total of 344,693 new energy PVs were sold across China, a year-on-year surge of 83% (CPCA's data only includes vehicles locally produced in China).

(Photo source: official website of BYD Auto)

Partly affected by the phase-out of new energy vehicle subsidy, the sales of all-electric PVs in April only climbed 22% to 66,552 units, compared with 118% year-on-year increase for March. Of that, the sales of pure electric cars (45,197 units) edged down 4%, while the SUV sector gained an impressive jump of 197%.

The monthly sales of plug-in hybrid PVs still soared 51% from the previous year to 25,148 units thanks to the increasing number of PHEV makers and the less influence from NEV subsidy. The car and SUV sectors posted 51% and 31% year-on-year growth with 14,644 units and 9,109 units delivered respectively. 

As to the performance of each segment in April, the A segment took up 53% of total all-electric PV wholesale volume with remarkable increase of 132%. In the meantime, the A0 segment sales shot up 122% over the year-ago period to 10,935 units, while the A00 segment came across -49% year-on-year sales slump.

In terms of monthly plug-in PV sales, the A segment, with 12,514 vehicles delivered, faced a decrease of 17% despite its majority position. The sales of B-segment and C-segment vehicles skyrocketed 2,645% and 106% respectively to 10,019 units and 2,615 units.

BYD took three places among the top 10 new energy PV models by April retail sales—the BYD Yuan EV (champion), the BYD e5 (4th) and the BYD Tang DM (7th). The Geely Emgrand EV, gaining 91.7% surge, moved up to the runner-up place. The BAIC EU Series was still included among the top 3 with its retail sales tremendously growing 1,246%. It is noteworthy that the Passat 1.4T PHEV entered the top 10 list as a newcomer, ranking 9th in April.

Regarding year-to-date retail sales, BYD was still the biggest winner with its models occupying three places out of the top 4 new energy PV models. JAC iEV6E was the only one that suffered downturn.