China retail April 2022: Toyota teases VW for #1, BYD (+156.9%) stuns again in market off -38.5%

The BYD Dolphin is the best-selling recent launch in China this month.

New retail sales in China accelerate their fall in April to a dismal -38.5% to 966,350 registrations for the selection of vehicles included in this report vs. -47.6% for wholesales. The year-to-date volume is now down -15.7% to 5,706,054. . BSCB is the only non-Chinese medium to cover both wholesales (ex-factory shipments) and retail sales data for China so you can get the most complete picture of the largest new car market in the world. Retail sales tend to give a more authentic idea of the market as they roughly correspond to registrations by end-customers and are more difficult to artificially boost with exports, sometimes the case for wholesales data. Note imports, pickups and medium to heavy commercial vehicles are not included in this dataset, but it includes a more detailed split by model variant (Jetour X70, X70 Coupe, X70 Plus, X70M and X70S for example).

In the brands ranking, Volkswagen (-51.5%) falls frankly faster than the market and loses over half its April 2021 volume to fall under the symbolic 100,000 sales barrier for the first time since February 2022 which was heavily impacted by Covid-19. The ID.4 Crozz (+248.1%), ID.4 X (+53%) both celebrating one year in market, and the Lamando (+6.3%) are the only VW models in positive as the Tiguan X (-81.4%), Tacqua (-79.4%), Touran (-79%), T-Cross (-77.5%), Phideon (-72.4%), Teramont X (-67.7%), Santana (-67.4%), Tiguan (-66.9%), Bora (-66.5%), Polo (-66.3%), Tayron X (-64.2%) and Magotan (-62%) all falter. Less than 1,200 sales below Volkswagen is Toyota (-24.7%) resisting well thanks to the Allion (+36.5%), Wildlander (+33.7%) and an avalanche of new models such as the Front Lander (5,408 sales), Sienna (4,920), Crown Kluger (3,010), Corolla Cross (2,993), Venza (1,597), Harrier (1,507) and Levin GT (954).

Toyota teases Volkswagen for the #1 brand title in April.

In third place, BYD (+156.9%) continues to defy gravity with yet another stupendous year-on-year lift. 10 if its models are either new or manage more than double their year-ago sales. Among recent launches, the Yuan Plus breaks its volume record at 8,492 while the Dolphin hits 8,760 sales and the Destroyer 05 is at 1,255 units. Elsewhere, the Yuan (+1133.3%), e6 (+617.1%), Song PLUS (+575.6%), Qin PLUS (+477%), e3 (+335.3%), e5 (+268.4%) and Tang (+187.5%) all evolve at stratospheric levels. Honda (-38.9%) remains in 4th place ahead of Wuling (-27.4%) like last month, while Changan (-42.2%) is up three spots on March to #6, distancing Nissan (-48.3%), Mercedes (-44.7%), Geely (-46.7%) and BMW (-48.9%) all underperforming. Just outside the Top 10, GAC (-10.3%) manage to thin its losses, with Chery (-11.9%), Dongfeng (-19.2%) and Ford (-24.3%) in the same situation in the remainder of the Top 20. Below and in order of sales, Neta (+208.5%), Leap Motor (+180%), Geometry (+228.4%), Weltmeister (+48.9%), Citroen (+38.9%), Maple (+741.6%) and Lingbox (+446.1%) all go against the negative market in the remainder of the Top 60.

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (-3.5%) cements its leadership and is the only model to sell more than 20,000 retail units this month. The BYD Song PLUS (+575.6%) climbs to a record 2nd place overall and becomes the best-selling SUV in China for the first time. The Nissan Sylphy (-44.2%) remains in third place but is in difficulty and falls faster than the market. The BYD Qin PLUS (+477%) is up one spot on last month to #4 overall while the Honda CR-V (-39.2%) is up three to round out the Top 5. The VW Lavida (-52.6%) stays weak at #6 vs. #2 over the Full Year 2021, it distances a solid Toyota Camry (-8.5%), the Toyota Corolla (-56.8%) and the Honda Accord (-29.7%) resisting better than the market. The VW Sagitar (-45.2%) closes out the Top 10. The BYD Dolphin is the best-selling recent launch in market at #18 above the BYD Yuan Plus (#19), Chery QQ Ice Cream (#45) and Changan UNI-V (#46).

Previous month: China retail March 2022: BYD on podium for the first time, Tesla impresses in market down -15.2%

Full April 2022 Top 125 All-brands and Top 640 All-models below.