China retail May 2024: Market off -6.7%, NIO and Zeekr at record levels, Toyota Front Lander in Top 10

First Top 10 finish for the Toyota Front Lander

We can share with you today All brands and All models retail sales data for China in May. Sales of the selection of vehicles included in this report are off -6.7% year-on-year this month to 1,576,309 units. This means the year-to-date tally is now up 5.2% to 7,669,850. 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 picture of the market as they roughly correspond to registrations by end-customers and are more difficult to artificially boost with exports which can sometimes be the case for wholesales data.

BYD (+13.5%) ignores the surrounding gloom to post yet another spectacular result, outselling Volkswagen by almost 93,000 units. BYD can count on stellar performances of the Destroyer 05 (+255.3%), e6 (+90800%), Seagull (+286.7%) and Song Pro (+68%) among others. Meanwhile Volkswagen (-18.9%) continues to slide down despite solid results by the ID.3 (+263.3%), ID.4 Crozz (+70.4%), Tavendor (+35.2%), ID.4 X (+26.9%), Teramont X (+13.2%) and Teramont (+12%). Toyota (-17.1%) holds onto the third position ahead of Honda (-23.3%) and Geely (-10.4%), all losing share year-on-year and replicating last month’s Top 5. Wuling (-11.5%) is also in trouble at #6 while Tesla (+27.6%) and Chery (+26.2%) impress. AITO (+391.9%), Jetour (+99.8%), TANK (+83.7%), Hongqi (+23.8%) and Lynk & Co (+16.9%) stand out below just as NIO (+246.2%) and Zeekr (+117.7%) both break their all-time monthly volume record.

Over in the models ranking, the BYD Qin Plus (+20.4%) manages a fourth consecutive month in pole position and surpasses the 200,000 YTD volume mark. The Tesla Model Y (+25.2%) is back up three spots on April to #2, a ranking it also holds year-to-date. The BYD Seagull (+286.7%) is up one rank to #3, overtaken the BYD Song Plus (+21.5%), while the Nissan Sylphy (-12.5%) falls three spots to #5. BYD places a further three models inside the Top 9: the Destroyer 05 (+255.3%) breaking its volume record at #6, the Yuan Plus (+1.1%) at #7 and the Song Pro (+68%) at #9. The Toyota Front Lander (+36.3%) breaks into the Top 10 for the first time at #10, and when combining sales with its twin the Corolla Cross (#25), it would reach 4th place overall.

Previous month: China retail April 2024: BYD Qin Plus threepeats at #1, AITO M9 inside Top 20

One year ago: China retail May 2023: BYD back in charge, GAC also impresses

Full May 2024 Top 123 All brands and Top 650 All models below.