Chinese brands dominate May car sales in China
May saw Chinese brands make up four out of the five top-selling brands in the China market according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The market for a long time was dominated by joint ventures with BYD last year becoming the first Chinese producer to ever take first place for sales. Thanks to the rapid electrification of the market Chinese brands are prospering as evidenced by both the figures for May and the year to date. The figures come just days after Li Yunfei, GM of BYD’s brand and PR department, predicted at the 2024 China Automobile Forum in Chongqing that the share of Chinese brands would reach 80% within the next two years, currently it‘s around 60%.
BYD continued to dominate in May with retail sales of 268,226 a year-on-year increase of 21.5% meaning that BYD alone made up 15.7% of the Chinese car market. The only joint venture in the top five was FAW Volkswagen which with sales of 124,029 was down -17.5% giving a market share of 7.3%. Geely is within striking distance of the number two spot selling under 300 cars less. Sales for Geely were up 31.6% year-on-year and the Zhejiang-based private company now controls 7.2% of the market. Changan secured the number four spot despite a decline of -12.7% and it had a 5.6% market share. Rounding out the top five was the top climber Chery which saw sales increase by 59.3%, with the Anhui company now controlling 5.2% of the market. The top 10 is then rounded out by Shanghai Volkswagen, GAC Toyota, Dongfeng Nissan, BMW Brilliance, and Tesla China.
| Position | Brand | Sales | YOY Change | Share |
| 1 | BYD | 268,226 | 21.5% | 15.7% |
| 2 | FAW Volkswagen | 124,029 | -17.5% | 7.3% |
| 3 | Geely | 123,768 | 31.6% | 7.2% |
| 4 | Changan | 95,739 | -12.7% | 5.6% |
| 5 | Chery | 88,873 | 59.3% | 5.2% |
| 6 | Shanghai Volkswagen | 83,713 | -11.9% | 4.9% |
| 7 | GAC Toyota | 69,593 | -10.2% | 4.1% |
| 8 | Dongfeng Nissan | 61,725 | -0.9% | 3.6% |
| 9 | BMW Brilliance | 55,301 | -3.2% | 3.2% |
| 10 | Tesla China | 55,215 | 29.9% | 3.2% |
May sales showed a total of 1,710,000 cars, down -1.9% year-on-year. However, new energy vehicle sales show no sign of abating with sales up by 38.6% for a total of 804,000.
These rankings are not a May anomaly with the figures for January to May showing a very similar pattern. The only difference was that Shanghai Volkswagen managed to squeeze into fifth place ahead of Chery by around 20,000 sales and that tenth position belongs to the Shanghai GM Wuling joint venture rather than Tesla. Chery again is the star of the figures showing a 75.7% increase in sales year-on-year with Geely also showing a very respectable 40.2% rise.
| Position | Brand | Sales | YOY Change | Share |
| 1 | BYD | 1,108,363 | 20.0% | 13.7% |
| 2 | FAW Volkswagen | 638,327 | -3.3% | 7.9% |
| 3 | geely | 628,171 | 40.2% | 7.8% |
| 4 | Changan | 562,955 | 9.7% | 7.0% |
| 5 | Shanghai Volkswagen | 427,775 | -1.4% | 5.3% |
| 6 | Chery | 407,736 | 75.7% | 5.1% |
| 7 | GAC Toyota | 292,377 | -14.8% | 3.6% |
| 8 | Dongfeng Nissan | 271,279 | 0.0% | 3.4% |
| 9 | BMW Brilliance | 263,868 | -4.0% | 3.3% |
| 10 | SAIC GM Wuling | 261,903 | 0.2% | 3.2% |
BYD’s dominance is even more apparent when looking at sales of new energy vehicles where BYD’s market share is larger than the next five producers combined.
| Position | Brand | Sales | YOY Change | Share |
| 1 | BYD | 268,226 | 21.5% | 33.4% |
| 2 | Geely | 56,172 | 148.3% | 7.0% |
| 3 | Tesla China | 55,215 | 29.9% | 6.9% |
| 4 | Changan | 48,777 | 100.3% | 6.1% |
| 5 | SAIC GM Wuling | 42,491 | 17.2% | 5.3% |
| 6 | GAC Aion | 37,148 | -17.5% | 4.6% |
| 7 | Li Auto | 35,020 | 23.8% | 4.4% |
| 8 | Seres | 32,226 | 491.3% | 4.0% |
| 9 | Chery | 30,630 | 300.2% | 3.8% |
| 10 | Great Wall | 21,644 | 3.8% | 2.7% |
Sources: Autohome, Fast Technology