China wholesales February 2022: BYD (+336.2%) headlines market up 18.7%

BYD sales are up 4-fold year-on-year in February in China.

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), new vehicle wholesales in China soar 18.7% year-on-year in February to 1,737,000 units. Passenger Vehicles are up a stunning 27.8% to 1,487,000 sales and Commercial Vehicles sink -16.6% to 250,000. Looking at Passenger Vehicle segments, SUVs surge 29.6% to 734,000 units, cars are up 28.4% to 687,000 sales, MPVs are up 12.9% to 52,000 and minibuses are down -9.5% to 15,000. The year-to-date total volume is up 7.5% to 4,268,000 sales after two months, with Passenger Vehicles up 14.4% to 3,674,000 and Commercial Vehicles down -21.7% to 594,000 units. The Passenger Vehicles total includes 1,790,000 SUVs (+16.4%), 1,705,000 cars (+12.8%), 133,000 MPVs (+3.8%) and 45,000 minibuses (+35.2%).

Sales of Chinese-branded Passenger Vehicles follow the market in February at +28% to 634,000 units for a flat 42.6% share. Year-to-date, Chinese brands add up to 1,637,000 units, up 20.3% year-on-year and accounting for a 44.6% share, up from 42.4% over the same period a year ago. Sales of New Energy Vehicles (NEV) soar 184.3% year-on-year to 334,000 and 154.7% year-to-date to 765.000 for a 17.9% market share. Passenger NEVs are up 182.2% to 321,000 including 246,000 BEV (+154.5%) and 75,000 PHEV (+338.6%). Year-to-date, Passenger NEVs are up 155.8% to 740,000 including 581,000 BEV (+138%) and 160,000 PHEV (+251.1%). Exports are up 60.8% year-on-year to 180,000 units including 146,000 Passenger Vehicles and 34,000 Commercial Vehicles. Year-to-date, the export tally is 412,000 (+75%) including 331,000 Passenger Vehicles and 81,000 Commercial Vehicles.

In the brands ranking, for once Volkswagen (+33.8%) beats the market thanks to strong performances by the Lavida (+141.5%), Teramont (+70.5%) and Tayron (+37.9%) and surreal lifts on low year-ago bases by the Viloran (+46300%), Polo (+8447.1%), Santana (+2445.6%), Phideon (+1157.8%), T-Cross (+1019%) and Tacqua (+660.1%). However the ID family of BEVs is disappointing with the ID.3 (1,012), ID.4 Crozz (2,374), ID.4 X (1,357), ID.6 Crozz (1,470) and ID.6 X (170) all below expectations. Toyota (+37.8%) is back up to #2 overall, helped by solid showings by the Camry (+203.6%) and RAV4 (+70.4%), as well as successful launches by the Corolla Cross (record 5,515), its twin the Front Lander (3,829), the Crown Kluger (6,033), Harrier (4,337) and Sienna (4,020). Honda (+32.9%) is down to #3 but also outpaces the market with the Crider (+228.5%), Odyssey (+114.4%), Accord (+79.5%), CR-V (+54.3%) and XR-V (+52.5%) as well as the new Integra (5,014) scoring big.

The Tesla Model Y is #2 overall but its wholesales volume includes exports. 

BYD (+336.2%) multiplies its year-ago volume by more than four, climbs to 4th place overall and #1 Chinese brand thanks to the Qin PLUS (+6386.5%), e3 (+4637%), Yuan (+1128.8%), Tang (+694.1%) and Han (+84.8%). The Dolphin (8,565) and Yuan PLUS (record 4,517) are successful launches. Nissan (+36.7%) also beats the market which means all Top 5 brands do so, and in this case it is helped by the Teana (+112.3%), Qashqai (+98%), Kicks (+71.9%) and Tiida (+66.6%) whereas the X-Trail (-87.5%) implodes. Geely (-10.3%) can’t catch the market’s upwards trend and is handicapped by the Boyue (-25%). Tesla (+208.5%) triples its wholesales year-on-year and climbs 6 spots on January to #7 but keep in mind these figures include exports. Changan (-36.2%) is in great difficulty year-on-year while BMW (+6.8%) and Audi (-0.6%) underperform to close the Top 10. Haval (-31.2%) also disappoints at #14.

Below and in order of sales, Chery (+27%), MG (+103.6%), Dongfeng (+91.6%), GAC (+89.6%), Roewe (+89.3%), Hongqi (+66.4%) and Chevrolet (+75.5%), Jetta (+91.7%) and Venucia (+335.4%) all stand out in the remainder of the Top 30. Looking at EV startups, LI (+265.9%) advances to #33 overall, Neta (+255.5%) is at #35, Xpeng (+180%) is #39, NIO (+9.9%) is #40, Leap Motor (+774%) is #48 and Lingbao (+850%) is #51. TANK (#37) is the best-selling recent launch above Zeekr (#50) and Pocco (#54). AITO crosses the 1,000 sales milestone at 1,061 whereas Voyah is down to 740 wholesales and #72 (-6). 

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, the Nissan Sylphy (+30.2%) outperforms the market to hold onto the top spot. The Tesla Model Y (+599.8%) is the best-selling SUV in China for the first time, however the wholesales figure for Tesla models includes exports. The VW Lavida (+141.5%) is bumped down to #3 above the Honda CR-V (+54.3%) up 7 spots on January to #4, the BYD Song (+295.9%) up 11 to #5 and the Tesla Model 3 (+76.2%) up 3 to #6. The Toyota Corolla (-8%) rallies back up 42 ranks on last month to #7 ahead of the BYD Qin PLUS celebrating one year in market. The Wuling Hongguang MINI EV (+9.6%) is disappointing in 9th place overall vs. #3 last month and #2 over the Full Year 2021, as is the Haval H6 (-38.1%) down six spots on January to #10 and #4 SUV in the country.

Previous month: China wholesales January 2022: VW back in positive, Changan, BMW and Hongqi break records in stable market (+0.9%)

One year ago: China wholesales February 2021: Market up 364.8% on year-ago lockdown, Changan CS75 best-seller for the first time

Full February 2022 Top 100 All-brands and Top 455 All-models below.