China retail November 2022: Sales down -7.5%, BYD overtakes VW, Tesla Model Y #1

BYD overtakes VW in China. 

The Chinese retail market endures a second straight month of year-on-year decline in November, accelerating its fall to -7.5% and 1,567,834 units. Keep in mind November 2021 was already down -12.6% on the year prior. The year-to-date tally is off -3.9% or over 700,000 units to 17,372,349. 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 precise view of the market as they roughly correspond to registrations by end-customers. This way, they are more difficult to boost with exports, as is often the case for wholesales. Note imports, pickups and medium to heavy commercials are not included in this dataset, but it includes a more detailed split by model variant.

This month and as it is the case for the wholesales charts, BYD (+82.2%) takes control of the brands charts and breaks its volume record at over 176,000 units. The Song PLUS (+71.8%) and new Seal (9,108) both reach all-time highs, while the new Yuan Plus (17,887) remains at a very strong level as do the Song Pro (+340.7%), Dolphin (+258.6%), Tan (+62.1%), Han (+50.3%) and Qin PLUS (+30.9%). Volkswagen (-7.6%) matches the market but retrogrades to 2nd place 8,600 retail sales below BYD. This is despite strong showings by the Lamando (+80.2%), CC (+41.4%), Viloran (+36.1%), ID.3 (+26%), Magotan (+25.7%), Passat (+21.6%), Tacqua (+17.8%), ID.6 Crozz (+15%), T-Roc (+14.2%) and Golf (+13.5%).

The Tesla Model Y is the best-selling vehicle in China for the first time.

Toyota (+1.9%) edges up to stay in third place above Honda (-34.8%) in great difficulty this month. Changan (+10.9%) posts a solid gain to stay in 5th position, a ranking it now also holds year-to-date. Tesla (+93%) is up 14 spots on October to land at #6 and BMW (+10%) scores a double-digit gain at #9. In contrast Wuling (-26.1%), Geely (-19.1%) and Nissan (-33.9%) all struggle. Below, Audi (+11.8%) and Mercedes (+6.1%) deliver the only additional upticks in the Top 20. As for the numerous EV startups that have popped out in recent years, Neta (+66.5%), LI (+16%), NIO (+36%), recently launched AITO and Zeekr (+511.9%) all reach all-time high volumes this month, the latter two managing their first five-digit sales figure. Notice also Geometry (+214.9%), Leap Motor (+71.1%) and TANK (+32.3%) all in great shape.

As far as the models ranking is concerned, the Tesla Model Y (+122.1%) leaps up 17 spots on October to land in pole position for the third time this year after June and September. It advances to #4 year-to-date as a result. The BYD Song Plus is up one rank on last month to #2 with a record 35,147 sales, intriguingly only 55% of its wholesales figure for the month. It would appear BYD is trying to benefit from the last two months of tax incentives and filling dealerships with cars and this is only reflected in the wholesales numbers. The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (-18.4%) suffers and is down from #1 in October to #3 this month, however it remains comfortably in the YTD lead. The BYD Qin Plus (+30.9%) is up to #4, equalling its ranking record also hit last April. Still #2 year-to-date, the Nissan Sylphy (-29.4%) is in complete freefall at #5 as is the VW Lavida (-35.1%) at #6. In contrast the BYD Dolphin (+258.6%) shines at #7 vs. #17 year-to-date. The Han (+50.3%) makes it four BYDs in the Top 8.

Previous month: China retail October 2022: First market fall since May (-1.9%), BYD (+84.4%), Audi (+42.3%) shine

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

Full November 2022 Top 113 all brands and Top 660 all models below.