China April 2018 – New Energy: Toyota, BYD and Roewe dominate

BYD is returning to its prominent position among New Energy carmakers. Qin 2019 pictured.

* See the Top 50 brands and Top 100 models by clicking on the title *

This is a new Chinese monthly update exclusive to BSCB, part of our ever-expanding China coverage. And this month we have added a brands ranking so our perspective on this booming segment is more precise. New Energy vehicles include electric, hydrogen, PHEV and hybrid models. Keep in mind we are referring to retail sales including imports here as these offer a much more complete picture of New Energy sales than wholesales alone.

Roewe advances 265% to third place in April.

Thanks to its successful hybrid lineup, Toyota dominates this segment for now with sales up 72% to 12.449 in April, followed by BYD (+97%) at 6.885, Roewe (+265%) at 5.770 and JAC (+592%) at 5.316. Relatively surprisingly, BAIC BJEV only comes up 5th with the second smallest year-on-year gain in the Top 10 at +26%. Lexus follows Toyota at a distance at #6, with Baojun making its way to the top at #7 vs. #10 YTD, ahead of Geely (+111%), Honda (+50%) and Zhi Dou (+18%) at #10. This means there are 7 Chinese brands in the New Energy Top 10 in April. Notice also Tesla coming in at #14 and #8 YTD.

Baojun is also fast becoming a force to be reckoned with thanks to the E100.

Model-wise, the Toyota Corolla Hybrid holds onto the pole position thanks to sales up 84% year-on-year, and is followed like last month by the JAC iEV6e (+858%) and the BAIC BJEV EC-Series (+77%). The BYD Qin (+298%) is up one spot to #4, overtaking the Toyota Levin Hybrid (+33%) while the Roewe eRX5 (+149%) is up three spots to #6 and the Roewe ei6 up four to #7. The Baojun E100 gains 10 ranks on March to #8, the BYD Song EV is down three to #9 and the Lexus ES Hybrid also to #10.

Previous month: China March 2018 – New Energy: Corolla Hybrid and JAC iEV6e on top

Full April 2018 Top 50 brands and Top 100 models below.