China retail April 2025: Market up 14.5%, BYD plateaus, Geely Xingyuan ascends to #1

The Geely Xingyuan is the best-selling vehicle in China retail in April.

The selection of models included in this update soars 14.5% year-on-year in April to 1,662,338 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up 7.9% to 6,574,326. 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. There is also more detail such as sales of Xiaomi SU7 and SU7 Ultra separated.

In a further sign that the brand has started to plateau at home, BYD is up trails the market again at +7.3% to 237,558 sales. This is a far cry from the 416,162 units it registered last October. Quite a few models in the BYD lineup suffer devastating losses, such as the Destroyer 05 (-74.5%), Yuan Plus (-46.7%), Song Plus (-41.9%), Tang (-41.5%), Han (-39.3%), Qin Plus (-39%) and Song Pro (-34.1%). The carmaker stays in positive thanks to solid gains by the Song L (+203.5%) and Seagull (+21%) as well as, once again, precisely targeted new launches such as the Qin L (24,670 sales), Seal 06 (18,594), Sealion 05 (12,247), Yuan Up (9,180), Tang L (5,198) and Han L (3,502), the latter two both new for the month.

The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is #1 year-to-date.

Volkswagen (+6.1%) manages a second consecutive positive month even though its growth rate is significantly lower than the market’s. The Tharu (+91.9%), Magotan (+42.2%), T-Roc (+28.3%), Passat (+17.1%), Sagitar (+11.1%), Lavida (+9.1%) and Tayron (+9%) help the German manufacturer up. Geely (+76.2%) continues to surge, with the Panda mini (+76.9%), Icon (+50.5%), Binyue (+38.4%) and Xingyue L (+32.1%) all sturdy. But the real push comes from the Galaxy NEV lineup with sales up 106.7% to 24,951. Toyota (+12.7%) also matches the market but has relinquished its 3rd place to Geely both for the month and year-to-date. Wuling (+46.9%), Changan (+32.4%) and Chery (+30.9%) all impress below unlike Honda (-27.6%), Mercedes (-22.4%), Audi (-12.7%) and BMW (-18.8%). Further down, Li Auto (+46.7%) edges up to 12th place while Leapmotor storms into a record #13 thanks to sales up 241.2% year-on-year. Tesla is down -7.9% to #16 and Xiaomi breaks its volume record at 28,516 while Nissan implodes -46.1% to #18.

Over in the models charts, the new Geely Xingyuan, launched last October, scores its first monthly win in retail, replicating its success in the wholesales ranking. It now places #2 year-to-date. The BYD Seagull (+21%) is up two ranks on March to #2 with the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+152.4%) again supported by the new 4-door variant, down one to #3 but leader year-to-date. The BYD Qin Plus (-39%), #1 a year ago, can only muster a 4th place this time. The Xiaomi SU7 (+239.7%) breaks its volume record, and we can also share separated sales of the Ultra version, ranking #198 overall. The new BYD Qin L is back up to #6 just as the VW Lavida (+9.1%) and Tesla Model Y (-23.8%) are the best-selling foreigners at #7 and #8 respectively. How far it was the time when overseas carmakers dominated the models charts…

Previous month: China retail March 2025: Geely doubles sales YoY, BYD trails surging market

One year ago: China retail April 2024: BYD Qin Plus threepeats at #1, AITO M9 in Top 20

Full April 2025 Top 124 All brands and Top 739 All models below.