China retail January 2025: Volkswagen monopolises podium, Xiaomi SU7 up to #6

The VW Passat is the best-selling retail vehicle in China in January.

Chinese retail sales of the selection of vehicles included in this update add up to 1,782,801, off -15.6% year-on-year due to an earlier date for the Lunar New Year. 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).

This month, as it was also the case a year ago, Volkswagen (-28.5%) takes the lead of the brands ranking despite a harsh year-on-year fall and with just 4,500 sales more than BYD (-1.6%). The German manufacturer is helped by strong results by the T-Cross (+22.5%) and Tharu (+8.8%) but all other models are in negative. For its part BYD has the Song L (+70.5%), Destroyer 05 (+49.2%) and Han (+23.1%) to thank while the new Seal 06 (18,987 sales) and Qin L (16,494) make themselves noticed, albeit at much lower levels than in previous months.

The Xiaomi SU7 breaks into the Chinese Top 10 for the first time.

Geely (+12.1%) braves the negative market with a double-digit year-on-year evolution and overtakes Toyota (-18.2%) to land on the third step of the podium. Chery (+4.6%) is also up, advancing to #6 vs. #8 last month. Mercedes (-11.3%) is up to #9 and manages to fall slower than the market but Nissan (-48.7%) and BMW (-36.1%) are hit particularly hard. Hongqi (-6.6%) is up to an all-time high #14, a ranking it also held in December 2023. Xpeng (+277.3%) is the performer of the month and breaks into the Top 20 for the first time at #17. Galaxy (+107.1%) and Leapmotor (+112.4%) also surge while newcomer Xiaomi is up to a record #24.

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, Volkswagen manages something it is believed to never have done before: monopolising the podium! Indeed the Passat (-0.8%) is stable to grab the first spot, distancing the Lavida (-36.9%) and Sagitar (-18.8%). The Tesla Model Y (-17.9%) takes 4th place while the Geely Xingyue L (+47%) is up to #5. Outstanding performance by the Xiaomi SU7 up 12 spots on December to crack the Top 10 for the first time at #6. The Geely Xingyuan soars 23 ranks on last month to also break into the Top 10 for the first time at #7. Leader over the Full Year 2024, the BYD Qin Plus (-27.1%) falls to #8 last month while Geely places three models inside the Top 10 with the Xingrui at #10.

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

One year ago: China retail January 2024: Volkswagen and Lavida start the year at #1, market up 68.1%

Full January 2025 Top 127 All brands and Top 717 All models below.