China wholesales November 2023: Sales surge 27.4% to record November

Li Auto breaks its volume record for the 8th consecutive month.

Data by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) shows a Chinese wholesales market surging 27.4% year-on-year in November to 2,970,000 units, which is a new record for the month. The Chinese market continues to perform way better than anticipated given the lukewarm economic context the country is going through right now. In November, the “11.11” shopping festival helped boost sales as have numerous promotional activities. We anticipate a red-hot December month for China, as the end of the year is usually a time where carmakers are ready to discount their models in order to reach annual targets. The year-to-date tally is now up 10.8% to 26,938,000. In the detail, Passenger Vehicles are up 25.3% in November to 2,604,000 and up 9.3% YTD to 23,272, while Commercial Vehicles are up 44.6% to 365,000 this month and up 21.8% to 3,666,000 year-to-date. 

New Energy Vehicles pass the million monthly sales milestone for the first time in November at +20% year-on-year to 1,026,000 units, accounting for 34.5% of the market. Over the first 11 months of the year, NEV wholesales are up 36.7% to 8,304,000 units, accounting for a 30.6% share. Exports soar once again at +46.3% year-on-year to 482,000 units for the month, including 97,000 NEVs. Year-to-date, exports shoot up 58.4% to 4,412,000 including 1,091,000 NEVs (+83.5%). In the detail, BEVs improve 87.7% to 1,003,000 while PHEVs are up 46.2% to 89,000.

BYD (+16.8%) for once can’t match the market but breaks its monthly volume record for the 4th time in a row, eclipsing the quarter of a million mark for the first time. The Yuan Plus (+52.2%) and Qin Plus (+49.2%) help the brand up while the Seagull breaks its volume record again, shooting past 40,000 units for the first time, and the Song Pro maintains itself above 20,000 wholesales. Compared to a horrendous year-ago result, Volkswagen (+31.2%) shows encouraging growth. Its performance is boosted by the ID.3 (+311.9%), Tavendor (+173.1%), Magotan (+96.5%), Sagitar (+67.3%), Polo (+59.9%), T-Roc (+58.4%) and ID.4 Crozz (+40.4%) among others. Toyota (+10%) is weak in context, with the Front Lander (+89.9%), Crown Kluger (+75%) and RAV4 (+70.9%) performing best.

Geely (+59.5%) overtakes Honda (+37.6%) to snap the 4th spot overall for the first time since last November. Changan (-0.3%) edges down for the only year-on-year loss in the Top 16. Wuling (+26.8%) matches the market and stays at #7 above an underperforming Tesla (+4.2%), a strong Nissan (+62.7%) and a soft BMW (+22.8%). Just outside the Top 10, Audi (+49.8%) and Chery (+55.7%) impress. Li Auto (+172.9%) breaks its all-time monthly volume record for the 8th consecutive month (!) and advances to #14 overall. Hongqi (+57.8%), at just below 40,000 sales, is at its highest in two years, since the record 42,158 units it sold in January 2022. Jetour (+122.6%) ranks #21 and also hits its 2nd best ever volume at 27,167, eclipsed only by the 27,904 it reached 3 years ago in December 2020. AITO (+143%), Xpeng (+244.9%), Leapmotor (+130%) and Zeekr (+19%) all hit all-time high volumes this month.

Looking at the models charts in isolation, the Tesla Model Y (-4.9%) reclaims the top spot both for the month and year-to-date, with the BYD Seagull ranking #2 for the 2nd month in a row. The Nissan Sylphy (+76.4%) shows unusual strength above three BYD models: the Qin Plus (+49.2%), Song Plus (-45.2%) and Yuan Plus (+52.2%). The VW Sagitar (+67.3%) is up two spots on October to #7, the VW Lavida (+33.5%) down three to #8, the BYD Dolphin (+2.1%) up two to #9 and the Wuling Bingo breaks into the Top 10 for the first time at #10, also breaking its volume record at over 24,000 units. Additional models at all-time high sales include the AITO M7, Changan Lumin, Li L7, Geely Panda Mini, Li L8 and VW ID.3.

Previous month: China wholesales October 2023: BYD monopolises podium in strong market (+13.8%)

One year ago: China wholesales November 2022: Market in negative (-7.9%), BYD #1, widens gap with VW to 56,000 units

Full November 2023 Top 94 All brands and Top 530 All models below.