China retail June 2022: Toyota, BYD and Tesla break records, Model Y #1, sales up 15.9%

The Tesla Model Y is the best-selling vehicle in China in June.

29/07 update: Now with Top 70 New Energy models.

New retail car sales in  China soar 15.9% year-on-year in June for the selection of vehicles included in this update to 1,873,594 units, leading to a year-to-date tally down -11.6% to 8,847,722. 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 exhaustive 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, often 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).

Toyota breaks its all-time volume record in June…

Volkswagen (+9.5%) slightly trails the market and sees its gap with #2 Toyota (+47.6%) – in record shape – reduce to just 14,000 units. The German manufacturer is helped by the great performances of the Teramont X (+139.3%), Lamando (+90.1%), Magotan (+74.5%), Tayron X (+73.8%), CC (+68.6%), T-Roc (+52.8%), Talagon (+50.1%), Tayron (+46.5%), Passat (+31%) and Golf (+23.3%) as well as the additional sales by recent launches such as the ID.3 and the ID.4 and ID.6 twins, even though these are yet to qualify a successes. As we saw above, Toyota (+47.6%) shoots up year-on-year to break its all-time volume record at 193,706 units, eclipsing its previous best of 179,285 hit last December. This is thanks to the Avalon (+172.9%), Wildlander (+111.5%), Camry (+49.3%) and the successful launches of the Front Lander (10,717), Sienna (7,994) and Corolla Cross (7,957) among others. Honda (+19.6%) reclaims the third spot it holds year-to-date and beats the market by a thin margin, boosted by the Civic (+61%), Accord (+57.9%), CR-V (+49.7%), Odyssey (+34.9%), Inspire (+29.1%) and the new Integra up to a record 7,743 units.

…as does BYD.

Lodging another explosive gain is BYD (+162.5%) at #4 and by far the most successful Chinese brand at home even though it drops one spot on May to step out of the podium. It also smashes its all-time volume record at 131,093 vs. a previous best of 107,138 last December. Three of the brand’s nameplates hit an all-time high: the Song Plus (27,229), Han (26,645) and Yuan Plus (15,471). Wuling (+23.9%) also outpaces the market at #5, a ranking it also holds year-to-date. Nissan (-5.3%) and Changan (+12%) can’t keep pace with the market whereas Tesla (+171%) is up 18 spots on May to sign its usual end-of-quarter inflated volume – actually an all time record at 77,253. Geely (-7.7%) struggling and Audi (+12.3%) round out the Top 10. Below, Chery (+42%), GAC (+37.9%) and Ford (+28.8%) impress. Looking at NEV startups, Xpeng (+131.2%), LI (+66.6%) and Neta (+176.4%) shine while NIO (+54.2%) breaks its monthly volume record at 11,991 and Leap Motor (+179.7%) scores its first ever five-digit sales figure at 10,940.

Model-wise, the Tesla Model Y (+349.4%) manages its first ever monthly win in China as it did in the wholesales charts, but this is a more significant win as it removes the export effect. Even though Tesla is fulfilling a backlog of orders due to the Shanghai lockdown that shut its factory, and always backloads its volumes to the end of quarters, it is still a nice achievement as the model shatters its previous best volume of 40,242 hit last December to 51,745 units. The Nissan Sylphy (+4.4%) is a little shy but remains in 2nd place while the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+45.1%) drops two spots on May to #3 but, unlike in the wholesales charts, stays in the YTD pole position. The VW Lavida (+3.8%) is weak at #4 just as the Toyota Camry (+49.3%) stays in 5th place. As we mentioned above, the BYD Song Plus (+259.7%) and Han (+155.3%) both break their volume record and distance the Tesla Model 3 at #8. The Toyota Corolla (-8.8%) and its twin the Levin (+2.1%) close the Top 10. The most successful recent launch is the BYD Yuan Plus (#28) above the Geely Xingyue L (#45), Toyota Front Lander (#49) and Changan UNI-V (#58) up to a record 9,045 units.

Previous month: China retail May 2022: BYD (+164.7%) scores largest YoY gain in Top 30, sales off -22%

One year ago: China retail June 2021: Volkswagen down “just” -7.9%, Wuling Hongguang Mini EV sigs first podium

Full June 2022 Top 114 All-brands, Top 670 All-models and Top 70 New Energy models below.