China wholesales October 2024: BYD (+68.1%) breaks record again, monopolises Top 5

The BYD Seagull is the best-selling vehicle in China for the 2nd time in the past 3 months.

In October, trade-in incentives have started to really be felt in the Chinese market with a noticeable effect on wholesales as manufacturers stock up in anticipation of improved demand. Promotional activity across regions and an ever so dynamic market with many new launches have kept the market active. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Chinese wholesales are up 7% year-on-year in October to 3,053,000 units, leading to a year-to-date volume up 2.7% to 24,624,000. In the detail, Passenger Cars are up 10.7% to 2,755,000 whereas Commercial Vehicles remain weak at -18.3% to 298,000. Year-to-date, PC are up 3.7% to 21,434,000 while CV drop -3.4% to 3,190,000. Production is up 3.6% to 2,996,000 for the month and up 1.9% to 24,466,000 YTD.

The BYD Yuan UP breaks its volume record in October…

Sales of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) continue to break records, with October volumes up 49.6% to 1,430,000 units. That’s 46.8% of the total market including CV. This includes 842,000 BEVs (+30.4%) and 587,000 PHEVs (+89.7%). Year-to-date, NEVs grow 33.9% to 9,750,000 including 5,830,000 BEVs (+13%) and 3,915,000 PHEVs (+85%). Note the way PHEVs vastly outgrow BEVs over the period. Among the NEVs sold, 1,302,000 (+56.5%) were consumed domestically and 128,000 (+3.6%) were exported. Year-to-date, domestic NEV sales are up 38.3% to 8,692,000 units and exports are up 6.3% to 1,058,000. Total exports amount to 542,000 in October, up 11.1% year-on-year, including 465,000 PC (+10.7%) and 76,000 CV (+13.6%). Year-to-date exports are up 23.8% to 4,855,000 including 4,100.000 PC (+24%) and 755,000 CV (+22.5%).

…as does the BYD Qin L.

BYD pushes the limits of the possible again this month, with sales up 68.1% year-on-year to over 414,000 units, a new record. This is the 4th consecutive month the carmaker breaks its all-time monthly best, lifting it from 299,183 last July. No less than five of its models break volume records this month: the Seagull (51,288), Qin L (39,316), Seal 06 (38,069), Song L (27,794) and Yuan UP (20,216). In addition, the Destroyer 05 is up 176.9%, the Han up 37.4%, the Song Plus up 24.1% and the Tang up 19.3%. In 2nd place with less than half the sales is former leader Volkswagen (+1.5%), lodging its first year-on-year gain since January, albeit a very shy one. The German manufacturer is helped by the Tayron (+85.4%), Tharu (+72.8%), ID.4 X (+42.4%), Passat (+36.9%) and Tiguan L (+13.5%). 

Jetour hits an all-time high volume and ranking.

Toyota (+9.2%) is also in positive for the first time since January, with a relatively robust gain even if it’s not that much better than the market. The Granvia (+148.2%), RAV4 (+83.8%), bZ3 (+35.2%), Sienna (+28.7%), Avalon (+25.3%) and Corolla Cross (+24.7%) stand out. Three surging Chinese brands follow. Geely (+30.6%) is boosted by the new Galaxy E5 (15,712) and Gnome Xingyuan (15,130 for its 2nd month in market). Wuling (+34.6%) is again helped by the resurgence of the Hongguang Mini EV (+68.1%) as well as the new Starlight and Starlight S. Chery (+39.2%) is pulled up by the Tiggo 3x (+167.9%),Little Ant (+72.1%), Arrizo 8 (+67%), Tiggo 8 (+44.3%) and new Fengyun T9 (8,551). Honda (-42.2%), Changan (-20.5%), Nissan (-18.6%) and BMW (-14.6%) round out the Top 10 in mediocre fashion.

Zeekr breaks its volume record this month.

Li Auto (+27.3%) steps out of the Top 10 but still soars year-on-year at #11, delivering its 2nd largest volume ever below last month. Jetour (+63.5%) for its parts is at an all-time high for the third month in a row and climbs to its best ranking yet at #13. Tesla is up 41.4% at #15. 5 additional carmakers in the Top 30 reached their best-ever volume: Leapmotor (+98.3%) at #18, Zeekr (+91.6%) at #23, recent launch Xiaomi above the 20,000 mark for the first time and Xpeng (+1.6%). Notice also AITO up 142.9% at #19, Bestune up 122.3% at #28, Beijing up 67.5% at #30, Arcfox up 258% to #36, Voyah up 67.4% to #40 and a new volume record, Qiyuan up 125%, IM up 99.1% and AvatR up 182.1%.

Xiaomi crosses the 20,000 units mark for the first time.

Looking at the models charts in isolation, we have a momentous event with BYD simply trusting the first top spots for the first time. It monopolised the podium a year ago which was a first at the time. The Seagull (+35.6%) is the overall best-seller for the second time in the past three month with over 50,000 sales for the first time. It distances the Song Plus (+24.1%), Qin Plus (+5%), Qin L (new) and Seal 06 (new). Notice the prevalence of passenger cars (3) as opposed to SUVs (2). Leader last month, the Tesla Model Y (+37.4%) falls to #6 but still manages an outstanding year-on-year lift and stays in 2nd place year-to-date. The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+68.1%) is up one spot on September to #7 ahead of the VW Lavida (+2.9%), Nissan Sylphy (-0.9%) and the Toyota RAV4 (+83.8%) up 17 ranks on last month to score its first Top 10 finish since July 2021. The new Li L6 breaks its volume record for the 6th time in a row.

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

One year ago: China wholesales October 2023: BYD monopolises podium in strong market (+13.8%)

Full October 2024 Top 99 All brands and Top 558 All models below.