China retail February 2025: New 4 door model lifts Wuling Hongguang Mini EV to clear #1

The new Wuling Hongguang Mini EV 4-door is an instant blockbuster at home.

Retail sales for the selection of vehicles included in this update gain a splendid 23.1% year-on-year in February to 1,295,591 units. After a -15.6% fall last month, this means the year-to-date tally is now down 2.7% to 3,078,441. 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 view of the market as they roughly correspond to registrations to end-customers and are more difficult to artificially boost with exports which can sometimes be the case for wholesales data.

After an interruption in January, BYD easily reclaims the brands top spot, with sales flying off +75.8% year-on-year to over 185,000. The Song L (+157.3%), Han (+114.7%), Seagull (+80.9%), Song Pro (+71.6%) Song Plus (+38.4%) and Yuan Plus (+35.9%) all excel, as well as recent launches such as the Seal 06, Qin L and Yuan Up. Volkswagen (-3.2%) endures the only year-on-year drop in the Top 7 and returns to its traditional second place. Some well performing nameplates include the Tharu (+47.1%), Tayron (+36%), Passat (+23.2%), Teramont (+14.9%) and Viloran (+7.2%). Geely (+43.1%) continues to improve at #3 and would rank #2 when including sales of the Galaxy EV series. Toyota (+27.2%) beats the market for once but is stuck at #4 vs. #3 over the Full Year 2024.

The Xiaomi SU7 ranks #3 overall in February.

Wuling (+47.5%) slices its January ranking in two to climb to #5, overtaking Changan (+8.6%), Chery (+16.3%), Honda (-8.2%) and Mercedes (-3.9%). Tesla (-6.2%) is back up seven spots on January to #9 but can’t emulate the market surge. Audi (-20.5%) and BMW (-15.9%) both struggle mightily. Li Auto (+24.2%) is up but less than the market, reaching its best ranking since last October at #12. Xpeng (+433.3%) surges to #14, the highest ever position hit by the carmaker. It’s also the case for newcomer Xiaomi up 8 spots on January to #16 with just one model. Below, Galaxy (+263.4%), Leapmotor (+230.2%), Bestune (+128.3%), Deepal (+89.6%), Aion (+73%) and Zeekr (+62.2%) stand out. Luxeed (+2096.5%) celebrates one year in market at a record #31, also hit last month.

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+156.4%) surges 13 spots on January to lead the way for the first time since February 2023, and it is a clean win with over 6,000 units more than the #2. This surge is due to the launch of a 4-door version which actually looks completely different to the 2-door model, so in effect a fully new vehicle. This adds an interesting twist to the race for the 2025 #1 model. Its clear victory lifts the Mini EV to the YTD pole position. Another candidate to the year-end #1, the BYD Seagull (+80.9%) is back in shape at #2. Confirming its tremendous success, the Xiaomi SU7 edges up a further three steps on January to an exceptional #3 ranking overall. Leader in the wholesales ranking, the Geely Xingyuan ranks #4 here with last year’s #1 the BYD Qin Plus (-16%) suffering at #5. The Tesla Model 3 (+155.4%) is up to #6 whereas the Model Y (-58.3%) freefalls to #32. There are two additional recent launches in the Top 10: the BYD Seal 06 (#8) and Qin L (#10).

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

One year ago: China retail February 2024: Chery, Geely defy market down -16.3%

Full February 2025 Top 125 All brands and Top 708 All models below.