China retail August 2023: BYD (+36%), Aion (+125.9%), Tesla (+80.7%) stand out in stable market

The Aion Y smashes its monthly volume record in August.

Retail sales of the models included in this report edge up just 1.1% year-on-year in August to 1,841,198 units, This a much softer result than wholesales this month (+8.4%) and leads to a year-to-date up 2.9% to 12,749,353. 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 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 sometimes the case for wholesales. Note imports, pickups and medium to heavy commercials are not included in this dataset, but it sometimes includes a more detailed split by model variant.

The Top 4 brands show a drastic contrast between BYD (+36%) and the next three foreign brands, all down by double-digits. BYD is helped by the Seal (+8807.1%), Song Pro (+98.1%), Yuan Plus (+47.5%) and smaller volumes by the e3 (+870.8%), Song Max (+302.5%) and e2 (+46.4%), but most of all by the tremendous success of the new Seagull (32,774 sales). Volkswagen (-11.8%) suffers in 2nd place over 25,000 units below BYD. Solid scores by the Polo (+429.8%), ID.3 (+210.3%), Talagon (+147.2%), Tayron (+61%), Tiguan (+20.9%) and CC (+12.8%) can’t tilt the balance into a positive result. Toyota (-16.9%) comes in third with a heavy year-on-year loss despite strong results by the Corolla Cross (+55.1%), its twin the Front Lander (+50.9%), the Venza (+46.3%), Highlander (+13.6%) and rather positive launches by the Granvia (4,191 sales) and bZ3 (3,229). At #4, Honda (-21.1%) freefalls and is off -24.4% year-to-date.

The BYD Seagull is already #3 in August.

For its part Geely (+21.7%) is in outstanding shape and lodges its highest monthly volume this year, it is followed by Changan (-1.1%) losing a little ground and Wuling (-10.6%) handicapped by the implosion of its Hongguang Mini EV (-53.3%). Tesla (+80.7%) rallies back up 9 spots on July to #8 vs. #12 so far this year. BMW (+7.4%), Mercedes (+3.6%) and Audi (-9.6%) follow while Nissan (-38.9%) and Buick (-18.1%) confirm Chinese customers are getting away from mainstream foreign brands. Aion (+125.9%) passes the 50,000 monthly sales milestone for the first time, Li Auto (+682.9%) also breaks its volume record – for the 5th month running – at almost 34,000 units and NIO (+78%) does the same at just under 19,000 sales. Shenlan/Deepal (+1405.5%) is another record breaker further down.

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, the Tesla Model Y (+60.3%) is back to the top spot and cements its YTD lead (+60.8%). It distances the BYD Qin Plus (+28%) and the newly launched BYD Seagull up to #3 after just 5 months in market. The Nissan Sylphy (-31.9%) endures a harsh drop to #4 ahead of the BYD Song Plus (-8.6%) also in difficulty. The Honda Civic (+80.8%) scores its largest monthly volume since December 2020 and the Aion Y (+158.9%) smashes its volume record to 26,542. BYD places five models in the Top 11: add the Yuan Plus (+47.5%) at #9 and the Dolphin (-7.7%) at #11. Notice also the VW Lavida (-26.4%) down to #10.

Previous month: China retail July 2023: BYD leads again, LI Auto (+221.3%), NIO (+82.2%) break records

One year ago: China August 2022: BYD (+142.6%) continues on stellar run with new record, market up 19.4%

Full August 2023 Top 98 All brands and Top 599 All models below.