China retail Full Year 2024: BYD Qin Plus overtakes Tesla Model Y

The BYD Qin Plus is the best-selling retail sale in China in 2024.

Discover 45 years worth of Chinese Historical Data here.

Chinese retail sales of the selection of vehicles included in this update are up a vigorous +8.2% in 2024 to 22,481,136 units. 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 vehicle 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 by manufacturers with exports which can sometimes be the case for wholesales data. Note pickups and medium to heavy commercial vehicles are not included in this dataset, but it includes a more detailed split by model variant (Jetour X70, X70 Coupe, X70 Plus, X70M and X70S for example).

Despite solid performances by a handful of models such as the ID.4 X, Volkswagen is down this year.

BYD is also the dominant force in the Chinese retail market with sales soaring 45.8% to 3.45 million. The gap between BYD and #2 Volkswagen (-7.9%) has increased from a mere 200,000 units in 2023 to a whopping 1.45 million this year. BYD is helped by a constant flow of new launches, including the Qin L, Seal 06, Seal 07, Sealion 05, Sealion 07, Song L and Yuan UP. The Destroyer 05 (+196.7%) and Seagull (+101.1%) also post fantastic results. As for Volkswagen, it still has good performers in its range, mostly SUVs, including the ID.4 X (+51.5%), Tayron (+37%), Passat (+27.1%), ID.3 (+23.4%), Tavendor (+15.1%), Tharu (+15.1%), Teramont X (+14.4%) and Teramont (+12.8%).

Chery sales soar 46.2% in 2024.

Almost all foreign carmakers endure a year-on-year drop, starting with Toyota (-6.5%). The exceptions are Tesla (+8.8%), Peugeot (+14.9%), Polestar (+215.8%) and Lotus (+54%), although the latter two are owned by Geely. Chevrolet (-73.1%) completely collapses, with Infiniti (-60.1%) Hyundai (-36.6%), Honda (-29%), Citroen (-28.3%), Lincoln (-27.5%), Buick (-25.5%), Land Rover (-25.1%), Kia (-23.1%) and Jaguar (-18.8%) are hit the hardest. Geely (+8.1%) advances to #4 overall even without including its new Galaxy range. Wuling (+17.3%) is up two spots to #5, both carmakers leapfrogging past Honda (-29%). Changan (-16.8%) is one of the rare locals in difficulty at #7. Chery (+46.2%) surges 6 ranks to #8 and passed the monthly 100,000 sales milestone for the first time in the brand’s history in December. Tesla (+8.8%) also breaks into the Top 10 and also hit an all time monthly record in December.

AITO climbs into the Top 20.

Below we have the other main event of the 2024 market; the surge of a raft of local brands mainly producing new energy vehicles. Li Auto (+32.6%) is up to #14, peaked at #10 in July and October and broke its monthly volume record three times this year to lift it to 58,411 in December. AITO (+317%) soars 23 spots to #18, Jetour is up five to #19 and reached a record 48,035 sales in December after five consecutive months of all-time high results, this thanks mainly to its new Shanhai new energy series.. Lynk & Co, Leapmotor, Galaxy, Zeekr, Deepal, Xpeng, Bestune and Xiaomi also broke their all-time monthly volume record in December and during multiple months this year.

The new Shanhai new energy series propels Jetour to record heights.

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, despite reaching an all time high volume in December, the Tesla Model Y (+5.2%) can’t catch up with the BYD Qin Plus (+22.6%) and loses the top spot unlike in the wholesales charts. The BYD Seagull (+101.1%) ascends to third place for its first full year of sales while the Song Plus (+14.9%) makes it three BYDs in the Top 4 as it remains at #4. The Nissan Sylphy (-6%) drops two ranks to #5 ahead of the VW Lavida (+5.8%). The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+20.9%) rallies back up to #7 while the VW Passat (+27.1%) is up seven spots to #9. The most popular 2024 launches are the BYD Qin L (#12), BYD Seal 06 (#18), Li L6 (#26) and Xiaomi SU7 (#48).

Previous year: China retail 2023: BYD and Tesla Model Y on top

2 years ago: China retail 2022: BYD surges 123.3%, Nissan Sylphy #1, market down -2.1%

Full December and Year 2024 Top 151 All brands and Top 913 All models vs. Full Year 2023 data below.