China wholesales September 2024: BYD, Li Auto, Jetour and Leapmotor at all-time high

The new Seal 06 helps push BYD to new heights in September. 

Data by the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) shows a wholesales market off -1.7% year-on-year in September to 2,809,000 units. This includes 2,525,000 Passenger Cars (+1.5%) and 284,000 Commercial Vehicles (-23.5%). Further stimulus enacted by the Chinese government relating to vehicle scrapping and trade-in have prevented the market from falling faster. The year-to-date tally is in positive at +2.4% to 21,571,000 including 18,679,000 PCs (+3%) and 2,892,000 CVs (-1.6%). Note production is down -1.9%  in September to 2,796,000 and up 1.9% YTD to 21,470,000.

Li Auto breaks its volume record in September…

New Energy Vehicles are up 42.3% year-on-yer in September to 1,287,000 units, accounting for 45.8% of total sales. Of these, 1,176,000 (+45.5%) were sold domestically and 111,000 exported (+15.6%). Year-to-date, NEV sales shoot up 32.5% to 8,320,000 or 38.6% share. This includes 7,392,000 dispatched locally (+35.6%) and 928,000 exports (+12.5%). Looking at exports, they are up 21.4% year-on-year this month at 539,000 including 457,000 Passenger Cars (+20%) and 82,000 Commercial Vehicles (+29.8%). Year-to-date exports are up 27.3% to 4,312,000 including 3,633,000 PCs (+28%) and 679,000 CVs (+23.6%).

…as does Jetour…

BYD (+51.6%) does the seemingly impossible as it manages to beat its monthly volume record again in September and for the third consecutive month. Its all time best went from 299,183 in July to 370,770 this month. Highlights are the  new Qin L, Seagull, Seal 06 and Song L all at record levels, as well as the Destroyer 05 (+152.9%), Song Plus (+15.3%) and Tang (+9.6%) all solid. As it has been the case for any months now, both its two followers Volkswagen (-7.9%) and Toyota (-10.2%) lose ground year-on-year. This is despite strong performances by the Tayron (+39.3%), Passat (+26.9%), ID.4 C (+19.9%) and Tharu (+16.1%) for the former, and the Crown Kluger (+52.9%), Sienna (+32.4%), Granvia (+30.7%) and Avalon (+20.7%) for the latter.

… and Leapmotor.

The next four brands improve by double-digits, three of them Chinese. Geely (+12.5%) ranks at #4 as it does year-to-date, Wuling (+38.2%) stays at #5, Tesla (+66%) surges ahead to land the biggest gain in the Top 15 and Chery (+21%) is up one spot on August to #7 vs. #9 so far this year. Honda (-42.8%) completely implodes at #8 vs. #5 year-to-date with Changan (-29.2%) also in difficulty. Li Auto (+48.9%) lodges a new monthly volume record and its third Top 10 finish in the past four months at #10. Other carmakers delivering all-time high sales this month include Jetour (+86.7%) above 40,000 sales for the first time and Leapmotor (+104.9%) breaking its record for the 4th straight month and surpassing 30,000 monthly sales for the first time. We welcome Onvo, LEVC and Donfeng Honda’s EV brand Lingxi.

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

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, the Tesla Model Y reclaims the top spot for the second time this year after last June, but stays #2 year-to-date below the BYD Qin Plus (-2.6%) down to #5 for the month. The BYD Seagull is knocked down from the August pole position to #2 but still beats its monthly volume record at just under 48,000 sales. The BYD Song Plus (+15.3%) follows at #3 and in fact there are five BYD models in the Top 6. The new BYD Qin L advances to #4 while the new BYD Seal 06 stays at #6, both nameplates reaching all-time high volumes. The Nissan Sylphy (+7%) resists at #6 ahead of a resurgent Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+79.1%). The new LI L6 (#11) and BYD Song L (#12) also hit all-time high sales while the Tesla Model 3 (+1054.3%!) reaches its highest volume since September 2022.

Previous month: China wholesales August 2024: BYD, Jetour, Leapmotor break records, Seagull #1

One year ago: China wholesales September 2023: Record market, BYD at all time high again, places 3 models in Top 4

Full September 2024 Top 101 All brands and Top 559 All models below.