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China retail November 2021: Hongguang Mini EV repeats at #1, BYD, Ora, Xpeng, LI break records, sales off -12.6%

Ora breaks its all-time monthly volume record in November…

BSCB is the only non-Chinese medium to cover both wholesales (ex-factory shipments) and retail sales (end-customer sales) for China so you can get the most complete picture of the largest new vehicle market in the world. Retail sales tend to give a more accurate idea of the market. Indeed they roughly correspond to purchases by end-customers and are more difficult to artificially boost by manufacturers, which can sometimes be the case for wholesales data. The selection of vehicles included in this update which extends to some LCVs such as microvans is down -12.6% year-on-year to 1,694,111 units, with a year-to-date volume up 9.6% to 18,073,416.

…so does BYD…

Once again Volkswagen is in difficulty this month with retail sales off -30.3%, more than double the market rate and the biggest fall in the Top 7. Solid results by the Tiguan X (+55.2%), Teramont (+42.3%), Passat (+3.2%), Viloran (+1.3%) and the gearing up of the ID.4 Crozz (4,106), ID.6 Crozz (2,276), ID.3 (2,261) and ID.6 X (1,347) all breaking records can’t compensate for paltry scores by the Tacqua (-73.9%), Bora (-56.6%), T-Cross (-56%), Magotan (-53.8%), Tayron (-52.1%), T-Roc (-49.5%), Polo (-47.7%) and Teramont X (-42.9%). Volkswagen however remains comfortably in the brands lead above Toyota (-9.6%) limiting its loss thanks to strong scores by the Wildlander (+72.3% to record 13,919), Camry (+23.1%), Highlander (+20.4%), and new Crown Kluger (record 6,653). Honda (-21%) for its part falls faster than the market, hampered by the Avancier (-77.8%), Crider (-70.1%), UR-V (-57.3%), CR-V (-55.7%), Inspire (-32.4%) and Civic (-26%) and despite good performances by the Breeze (+45%), Elysion (+20.6%) and Accord (+6%). 

…Xpeng…

It’s a record ranking and volume for BYD up 131.1% year-on-year to #4 and a smashing 96,750 units, celebrating a 5th consecutive month of triple-digit growth (!). BYD is the best-selling domestic carmaker this month, passing Wuling and Geely. Four of BYD’s nameplates hit an all-time volume record this month: the Qin Plus (21,841), Song Plus (20,461), Han (13,455) and Dolphin (6,031) while the Yuan (+486.1%), Tang (+124.9%), e2 (+124.2%) and e3 (+106.6%) also post surreal gains. Wuling (+12.8%) drops to 5th place but remains very solid thanks to the evergreen performance of the Hongguang MINI EV (+22.4%) and the gearing up of the Xingchen SUV (record 10,791).

…LI…

The remainder of the Top 10 brands are all in trouble and lose share year-on-year: Geely (-19.1%), Changan (-20.4%), Nissan (-33.9%), Buick (-41.6%) and Haval (-36.5%) all would rather forget November. Below, year-on-year gains are more frequent and include COS (+82%), Tesla (+49.1%), Dongfeng (+44.2%), Hongqi (+32.6%), Chery (+27.3%), Jetta (+22%), GAC (+20.5%) and Lynk & Co (+0.3%) all ranking inside the Top 25. More brands break their all-time volume record this month: Ora (+47.4%) is up to 15,181 units, Xpeng (+249.4%) hits 14,921, LI (+187.4%) is at 13,438, Sehol (+893.2%) at 10,250, Neta (+519.5%) at 9,541, Leap Motor (+190.7%) at 5,168 and Weltmeister (+63.5%) at 4,191.

…and Neta.

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+22.4%) repeats in pole position and manages to outclass both the Nissan Sylphy (-34%) and VW Lavida (-29.6%) who rank above it year-to-date. The Haval H6 (-37.3%) remains the best-selling SUV in China but freefalls, it distances the Tesla Model Y up 19 spots on October to #5 overall, its second time in the Top 5 in the past three months. The Toyota Camry (+23.1%) remains in 6th place above the Honda Accord (+6%), BYD Qin Plus and Toyota Corolla (-38.9%). The BYD Song Plus (+442.3%) is up four spots on last month to round out the Top 10. Below the Model Y at #5 and the Qin Plus at #8, the next best-selling recent launches are the Wuling Xingchen (#42), GAC Trumpchi Empow (#53), TANK 300 (#57) and Geely Xingyue L (#58).

Previous month: China retail October 2021: Wuling, BYD defy market off -12.3%

Previous year: China retail Full Year 2020: Changan, Toyota headline market down -7.5%

Full November 2021 Top 135 All-brands and Top 645 All-models below.

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