Plugin vehicles continue to be all the rage in the Chinese auto market. With the end of the covid lockdowns, plugins went back to the fast lane, growing 109% year over year . They scored over 403,000 registrations in May, with plugin hybrids surginga paltry 91%Share-wise, with May showing another great performance, plugin vehicles hit 31% market share! Full electrics alone accounted for 23% of the country’s auto sales! This pulled the 2022 share to 25% .
Looking at May best sellers, with BYD hitting yet another record month and its models crowding the top spots, I have decided from now on to group the BEV and PHEV versions in just one row, instead of separating them, or else in a few months we would be only talking about BYD, Tesla, and the little Wuling Mini EV that could, leaving out many interesting models. And even with this grouping, BYD has 6 representatives in both tables, almost a third of the models represented there….
performance last month. With the internal competition heating up — the BYD Destroyer 05 is already ramping up, while the Seal’s landing is just a couple of months away — I think the Qin’s future performances will suffer, as these two new midsize sedans are part of the new Ocean generation of BYD plugins. Besides competitive specs, the main selling point of BYD’s Ocean lineup is the price. The base version of the attractive Seal is set to start at $35,000 USD.
But enough about BYD — with the Li Xiang One returning to its former self, #6 with 11,496 registrations, GAC’S Aion S was one of the surprises of the month, surging to 7th with a record 10,503 registrations. That was its first five-digit score ever, while its MPV sibling, the Aion Y, ended the month in a respectable 12th spot, highlighting GAC’s positive month.
Looking at the 2022 ranking, the BYD Han switched positions with its Dolphin sibling, with the flagship sedan now in 5th, while the BYD Yuan Plus jumped to #11. It shouldn’t take long until the compact crossover reaches the first half of the table.
Putin will not be happy.
Such a long article. And NOT ONE picture of the cars being reported on. I think it would be helpful to be sure thar we are not comparing mopeds to grand touring saloons.