BYD remains on top in China’s EV market

10 October 2024

BYD’s grip on China’s electric vehicle (EV) market did not falter in August. José Pontes, data director at EV Volumes, explores the leading brands and carmakers with Autovista24 editor Tom Geggus.

The brand leading China’s EV market in the first eight months of 2024 remained consistent. Accounting for 32.3% of all battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sales, BYD held a firm grip on first place.

Its share has surged 0.9 percentage points (pp) from July’s report. It is highly unlikely that this domination will end anytime soon, with a 25.9pp advantage over the second-place brand.

There was some change for the brands following in BYD’s wake. Tesla saw its share drop to 6.4% from 6.5% in the first seven months of the year.

It is worth remembering that Tesla only sells BEVs, while BYD also delivers PHEVs such as the Seal U DM-i. This makes the brand more accessible for buyers not yet ready to go all electric.

In third, Wuling benefitted from the positive performance of its Bingo and Mini EV models. This saw its market share reach 5.1%, up by 0.5 percentage points (pp) from July’s report.

This meant it surpassed Li Auto, which remained consistent, holding a market share of 4.7%. This consistency was thanks to the result of the ongoing popularity of its L6 model.

In fifth, Geely’s Galaxy E5 and Panda Mini models shined in August, pushing its share up by 0.2pp to 4.2%. This meant it overtook Aito, which saw its grip on the market falter, dropping to sixth place with a 4.1% share. This was down from a 4.4% market hold in July.

Aion claimed seventh with 3.7%, but without a new best-selling model, it cannot be expected to compete for fifth any time soon.

BYD leads carmaker charts

By assembling all brands under their parent companies and alliances, BYD continued to comfortably lead the Chinese EV market. In the first eight months of the year, the OEM took a 34% market share, jumping 0.6pp from July. This was predominantly thanks to the strong results of its namesake brand.

Meanwhile, its daughter brands collectively saw a shrinking market share. This means Denza, Fang Cheng Bao, and Yangwang are not helping to boost their larger manufacturing group’s profit margins. For the moment, BYD appears to have its domestic EV market under total control, mirroring Tesla’s success in the US.

Geely-Volvo was a distant runner-up, holding a 7.8% market share between January and August 2024. The positive result of Geely was dragged down by the likes of Zeekr which had a slow August.

Tesla finished third with a 6.4% market share, down from 6.5% in the previous report. Meanwhile, SAIC took fourth, holding on to 6.2% of sales. However, the carmaker’s position in the Chinese EV market looks precarious at present.

It was unable to profit from Wuling’s positive result due to other weak brands. This includes its joint ventures with foreign partners including GM and Volkswagen. August saw both MG and Maxus give underwhelming performances.

Its new premium brand, IM Motors, did increase sales considerably. However, this equated to only 6,100 units, which barely altered SAIC’s performance.

Below in fifth place, Changan saw its share slide slightly to 5.8% from 6.2% in July’s report. However, sixth-place GAC only held a 4.6% share, meaning Changan can feel safe in the top five for a while yet.