China’s PHEV registrations rocket in October as BYD takes control
02 December 2024
China’s electric vehicle (EV) market continued to grow in October, as plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) saw their best performance of the year. Autovista24 special content editor Phil Curry explores the figures.
BYD dominated China’s battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) markets during October. The latest data from EV Volumes shows the carmaker led both sectors, as it continues to push for sales domestically.
The country’s two EV markets saw strong growth in the month, with BEVs improving by 29.5% year on year, thanks to 681,023 registrations. PHEVs deliveries surged by 92.1%, as 535,957 new models joined the Chinese roads.
In the year to date, BEV volumes improved by 16.7% with nearly 4.9 million units. Meanwhile, PHEVs recorded just under 3.7 million registrations, a growth of 79.9% compared to 12 months ago.
BEVs remained more popular than PHEVs, accounting for 56% of total plug-in registrations. Across the first 10 months of 2024, the technology has seen 57% of total EV deliveries go its way.
The growth of the PHEV market continued in October. While in the same period last year it held 35% of all EV registrations, this year, its share stands at 44%. In the first 10 months of 2024, PHEVs have improved to a 43% share, up from 33% seen between January and October last year.
This means the BEV share of the EV market has slipped, with shares down 9.3 percentage points compared to October 2023. Their hold is also 10.1 percentage points down in comparison to the first 10 months of last year.
BYD’s PHEV supremacy
China’s top 10 in the PHEV market was dominated by BYD. The carmaker took seven out of the first eight positions in the table.
Leading the way was the Song, with deliveries of the PHEV variant reaching 69,120 units. This is a 34.5% improvement over October 2023, and gave it a 12.9% share of China’s PHEV market in the month.
In second was the BYD Qin L, with 39,316 deliveries. This gave the sedan a 7.3% market share in its sixth month on the Chinese market. The BYD Seal 06 followed in third, with 38,069 deliveries. The BYD top three took 27.3% of the PHEV market in the month, an impressive result as sales of the powertrain continue to grow in the country.
BYD also saw its Qin Plus model reach fourth place, with 27,097 units. Meanwhile, the Song L was sixth (25,314 units), the Destroyer 05 was seventh (22,055 units) and the Han was eighth (19,938 units). This meant the carmaker’s entries in the top 10 alone held 44.9% of the PHEV market in China.
Elsewhere, Li Auto took fifth place with its L6, which posted 25,814 deliveries. Aito placed in ninth and 10th, with its M7 and M9. The models gained 15,132 and 14,826 deliveries respectively.
Coasting to the finish
In the PHEV year-to-date table, the BYD Song continued to dominate, with 467,658 deliveries, a 12.7% market share. The model is almost 200,000 units ahead of its nearest competitor in the first 10 months of the year. It looks set to end 2024 as China’s best-selling PHEV for the third year in a row.
The Qin Plus comfortably held second place with 273,181 registrations in the first 10 months of the year. The BYD Destroyer 05 is next, with 189,171 units giving it third position. Combined, the top three make up 25.2% of the total market.
In fourth at the end of October was the Aito M7, with 166,510 units delivered in the year to date. The brand will be watching the BYD Qin L, which has closed to less than 1,000 units behind, thanks to its strong October performance. The model is fifth after just six months on sale, with 165,581 units delivered.
Further PHEV moves
A similar story is playing out with the Li Auto L6. The SUV sat in sixth position, thanks to 140,170 units registered in China. However, the BYD Seal 06 is under 3,000 units behind in seventh.
The model, which has 137,455 deliveries in just six months on the market, closed the gap in October by 12,255 units as it continues to build sales. If it continues this performance, it could reach sixth in the last two months of the year.
Rounding out the top 10 was the BYD Han in eighth (112,219 units), which jumped ahead of the Aito M9 (ninth with 110,948 units) and the Li Auto L7. The latter had a poor month in October, slipping two spots to 10th in the year-to-date chart with 109,784 deliveries.
Seagull flies to top
In the BEV market, the BYD Seagull led the way, with 51,288 units delivered. This was a 35.6% improvement on its performance from 12 months ago, and the model’s best result of the year so far. The city car captured 7.5% of October’s all-electric figures.
Registrations have been increasing across the first 10 months of 2024, as BYD looks to challenge Tesla for its domestic BEV title.
The US carmaker remains popular in China, however. Its Model Y took second place in China, with 36,204 registrations in October. This was an improvement of 37.4% year on year, and a 5.3% BEV market share.
In a close third was the Wuling Mini, with 34,185 deliveries. This was the model’s best result since December 2022, and its best performance of the year so far. Registrations started slowly for the Mini, but results since August have been encouraging. The model took 5% of the total BEV market in October, with registrations improving by 68.1%.
Strong performances
BYD took a further three spots in the top 10. Its Yuan Plus came in fourth, thanks to 28,678 deliveries. However, this was down 28.3% compared to October last year, when it led the BEV market.
The Yuan Up finished the month in seventh, with 20,216 deliveries in its eighth month on the market. Below, the BYD Dolphin took eighth with 18,231 registrations, down 35.7% year on year.
Wuling had a second model in the top five, with the Bingo in fifth. It recorded 24,106 registrations, up 1.5% on its performance in October 2023.
Xiaomi’s SU7 placed in sixth, with 20,726 deliveries. This was by far the model’s best performance in its seven months on the market and could give the manufacturer confidence going into 2025.
Placing ninth was the Changan Lumin, with 17,040 registrations in October, a 9.7% improvement on the same month last year. This was a record result for the model, as it took a 2.5% share of all BEV registrations in the month.
In 10th position was the Galaxy E5 crossover, with 15,712 registrations in China. This was an impressive result in the model’s third month on the market, as it achieved a 2.3% market share.
Tesla continues to lead
In the first 10 months of the year, the Tesla Model Y continues to lead the BEV battle, with 373,852 models registered in China. This is a 7.7% market share for the US vehicle. However, the crossover will be looking over its shoulder, with the BYD Seagull closing in.
There is just a 21,013 gap between the two models, with the Seagull on 352,839 deliveries between January and October, 7.2% of the BEV total.
The BYD model outsold the Tesla Model Y by 15,084 units in the month, and while this is the biggest monthly gain by the domestic brand, whether it can continue the run through the last two months of the year remains to be seen.
BYD is also holding onto third place in the year-to-date BEV chart, with its Yuan Plus posting 225,775 registrations up to October. The brand has two other entries in the top 10, with the Dolphin holding seventh spot (129,475 units) and the Qin Plus BEV in ninth (125,562 units).
Wuling kept fourth and fifth places thanks to its strong October showing. In the first 10 months of 2024, the Mini BEV is fourth with 188,617 deliveries, while the Bingo BEV is fifth with 152,808 registrations.
The Tesla Model 3 suffered a poor month in October, which saw it drop two places in the annual chart. It ended the month in eighth place with 126,833 units, after just 4,281 registrations in the month.
This meant it fell behind the BYD Dolphin and the Aion Y. The latter sat in sixth with 134,394 year-to-date deliveries. Aion also saw its S and S Plus models round out the top 10, with 117,885 registrations across the first 10 months of the year.
