What was the best-selling EV brand in China in 2025?

13 February 2026

New electric vehicle (EV) sales in China continued to grow in 2025. Did a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) slowdown affect the country’s biggest brands? Autovista24 special content editor Phil Curry examines the latest figures.

China’s EV market endured a challenging end to 2025, but finished the year with further growth. According to EV Volumes’ data, plug-in sales ended 2025 up by 17.5% year on year.

In total, 13,170,852 new battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and PHEVs were delivered, an increase of 1,960,139 units.

However, this was down from the 34.3% growth recorded across the first half of 2025. Since then, China’s PHEV market has slowed, recording its first declines since February 2024. This impacted the share balance between the two electric powertrains.

BEVs ended 2025 with a 61.5% hold of the Chinese EV market. This was an improvement of 4.9 percentage points (pp) compared to 2024. Meanwhile, PHEVs fell to a 38.5% share.

The PHEV slowdown impacted EV results in the final quarter of the year. While BEV volumes increased by 4% between October and December, PHEV sales declined by 4.2%. This left the overall EV market with a 3.6% increase in the period, as 4,020,708 units made their way to customers.

BYD leads despite decline

BYD sold the largest volume of EVs in China during 2025. The carmaker achieved 3,170,489 sales across the 12-month period, with the market representing 79.9% of its total global deliveries. This equated to a dominant 24.1% market share in its domestic market.

Despite its comfortable lead, BYD had a troubled 2025. Overall sales were down 9.9% compared to the previous year, as the brand increased its focus on global exports. The carmaker’s market share fell by 7.3pp compared to 2024.

Yet, BYD’s BEV deliveries grew by 2.8%. This was led by the Seagull with 310,956 deliveries. The model made up 9.8% of BYD’s EV sales and was the carmaker’s most popular. PHEVs made up 52.8% of BYD’s sales in China. However, its deliveries of the technology declined 18.9% year on year, despite the marque’s popularity in the market.

The BYD Qin Plus was BYD’s second-best-selling model of the year, and its leading PHEV. It achieved 8.9% of the brand’s sales between January and December. Following this was the Yuan Up BEV, with 6.9% of BYD’s total. The Seal 6 and Song Pro, both PHEVs, accounted for 5.9% and 5.7% of deliveries, respectively.

BYD may be hoping for a stronger 2026. Despite its dominant position in the PHEV market, other carmakers saw impressive figures across the year. The carmaker would need a catastrophic period of results to see its 15.2pp market share lead wiped out. Yet competitors are clearly maintaining momentum at present.

Geely impresses in China

One of the most improved carmakers in China during 2025 was Geely. The marque took second place in China’s EV market, thanks to the performance of its Geely and Galaxy models.

In total, 1,177,257 plug-in models made their way to customers across the year, an improvement of 156.8% compared to 2024. The carmaker was the only other brand to sell over one million models. Geely’s market share more than doubled last year, up 4.8pp to reach 8.9%.

Geely owes this record-breaking performance to its prowess in the BEV market. All-electric sales accounted for 66.9% of the carmaker’s total. The Geome Xingyuan was comfortably the brand’s best-selling model, making up 40% of Geely’s total sales. With deliveries only starting in September 2024, this was quite an achievement.

The brand’s second and third best-selling models were also BEVs. The Geely Panda Mini took 13.8% of the carmaker’s overall total, while the Galaxy E5 held 10.6%.

These models helped Geely to increase its BEV volume by 156.8% in the year, directly matching its overall EV improvement. Meanwhile, the marque’s PHEV sales grew by 156.8% compared to 2024.

In the last quarter of the year, Geely saw a 63.5% increase in sales, as 340,955 units made it to China’s roads. This was enough for an 8.5% market share, up 3.1pp.

Wuling bets on BEVs

The third biggest EV seller in China last year was Wuling, incorporating Baojung models. With 897,582 sales, it saw volumes rise by 33.3% year on year. This was good enough for a 6.8% share of China’s EV total, a rise of 0.8pp.

Wuling was driven by BEV sales in 2025. The technology represented 93.7% of the manufacturer’s deliveries, while its top seven best-sellers were all-electric models. The brand’s dominant leader was the Wuling Mini, which contributed to 48.1% of sales.

The BEV’s 431,617-unit total was almost three times higher than the Wuling Bingo in second, with 147,841 units. This was enough for a 16.5% hold of the carmaker’s total.

Wuling’s BEV sales increased 40.7% year-on-year. This came at the expense of its PHEV market, however, which experienced a 25.1% decline. The carmaker’s best-selling PHEV was the Xingguang S, with 18,518 sales, placing eighth in the brand’s best-sellers list.

Tesla struggles in China

After a third-place finish in 2024, Tesla slipped to fourth in China’s EV top-sellers list, ending the year with 626,498 sales. This was a drop of 4.9% year on year.

The US carmaker recorded a 4.8% share of the market, down by 1.1pp compared to 2024. While Tesla suffered declines in both halves of 2025, its second half of the year was stronger. The marque’s 6.5% drop from January to June reduced to a 3.7% dip from July to December.

Leapmotor placed fifth, with 530,891 sales. This was an 85.7% increase compared to 2024, and gave the brand a 4% market share, up 1.5pp. The Leapmotor C10 led its sales, with 108,376 units.

Aito took sixth, with 453,037 deliveries. This was enough for a 17.1% year-on-year increase, while the marque was responsible for 3.4% of China’s EV sales. However, with increased competition, this was a drop of 0.1pp compared to 2024. Aito’s M8 model led its EV sales, achieving 148,934 deliveries.

Impressive results

Seventh went to Xiaomi, which saw the biggest year-on-year volume increase out of the top 10 EV sellers. With 411,323 sales, the carmaker achieved an improvement of 194.9% year on year. This was good enough for a 3.1% share of the EV total, up from 1.2%.

The result was even more impressive considering Xiaomi only fielded two models, both in the BEV market. The SU7 led the way with 258,065 sales, while the YU7 achieved 153,258 deliveries.

Li Auto slipped to eighth in 2025 after placing fourth in 2024. With 408,059 sales, volumes dropped 18.5%. This meant its market share fell by 1.4pp, to 3.1%. Ninth went to Xpeng, with sales jumping 122.5% to 385,529 units. It held 2.9% of the EV total, up 1.4pp.

Chery rounded out the top 10, with 313,763 deliveries. This was a 10.3% improvement year on year, and gave the marque a 2.4% share. However, with increased competition, this was 0.1pp down compared to 2024.