China wholesales May 2025: Geely up 98.1%, BYD up 7.2%, Leapmotor reaches all-time high volume

Leapmotor B10 monthly sales are already above 10,000 units.

According to data by CAAM (China Association of Automobile Manufacturers), wholesales of new vehicles in China surge 11.2% year-on-year in May to 2,686,000 units (this figure includes exports). In the detail, it’s 2,352,000 passenger cars (+13.3%) and 335,000 commercial vehicles (-2%) that got sold this month. The year-to-date volume is up 10.9% to 12,748,000 including 10,996,000 passenger cars (+12.6%) and 1,753,000 commercial vehicles (+1.2%). The effect of the government trade-in campaign on appliances including cars continues to see its full effect. Production is up 11.6% to 2,649,000 units including 2,313,000 passenger cars (+12.8%) and 336,000 commercials (+4.4%), with YTD scores adding up to 12,826,000 (+12.7%) including 11,080,000 PC (+14.1%) and 1,746,000 CV (+4.2%).

Domestic sales (excluding exports) are up 10.3% year-on-year to 2,135,000 units. This includes just 1,040,000 ICE vehicles (-3.6%). So far this year, domestic sales are up a very sturdy 11.7% to 10,258,000. with ICE sales down -5.3% to 5,505,000 units. As for NEVs, wholesales are up a fantastic 36.9% year-on-year in May to 1,307,000 and up an even better 44% to 5,608,000 so far this year. This includes 834,000 BEVs (+43.1%) and 473,000 PHEVs (+27.3%). YTD figures are 3,556,000 (+47.7%) and 2,051,000 (+38%) respectively. Domestic NEV sales (excluding exports) are up 27.9% to 1,095,000 units for the month and up 40.8% to 4,753,000 YTD. Among passenger vehicle wholesales, domestic brands shoot up 22.6% for the month to 1,622,000 and 69% market share, up from 63.7% a year ago. The year-to-date share stands at 68.8%, up from 61.3% in May 2024, thanks to 7,562,000 sales, up 26.3%. Exports rise 14.5% to 551,000 for the month and are up 7.9% YTD to 2,490,000, this includes 468,000 PC (+17.7%) in May and 2,079,000 YTD (+7.4%).

The BYD Seagull ranks #2 this month despite a small year-on-year drop.

In the brands ranking, BYD (+7.2%) once again trails the market but still manages to sell over 265,000 units, more than 100,000 above any other carmaker this month. It exported 89,000 vehicles this month, up 130% year-on-year. BYD sales are propped up by the Song L (+323.4%), Yuan Up (+36.4%) and Dolphin (+25.1%). But the carmaker’s main engine of growth is, again, a slew of recent launches such as the Qin L (25,321), Seal 06 (15,787), Sealion 05 (14,734), Seal 05 (7,631), Tang L (7,004), Sealion 07 (6,191) and Han L (4,805). In contrast, usual blockbusters sink: notably the Destroyer 05 off -84%, the Qin Plus down -39.7%, the Seal at -88.7%, the Song Plus at -27.5%, the Song Pro at -34.7%, the Tang at -50.9% and the Yuan Plus at -50.3%. The 20-30% price cut BYD has initiated on its entire lineup in late May could help the brand return to the outstanding gains of yesteryear.

Geely continues to gallop ahead at +98.1% to just above 161,000 units. The brand can thank the new Xingyuan hatch which adds almost 40,000 units to the total, as well as the new Galaxy NEV sub-brand, with sales up 186% year-on-year to 40,574. The new Galaxy Starshine 8 (10,187), Starship 7 (10,051) and E5 (8,460) are the most successful. Elsewhere, the Boyue (+272%), Panda Mini (+106.3%) and Binyue (+85.6%) also post spectacular gains. Volkswagen (+3.4%) is stuck at #3 above Toyota (+6.7%), with both manufacturers, although in positive, unable to match the market growth rate. Changan (+25.4%), Wuling (+21.7%) and Chery (+21.4%) are all solid below, but the next four brands, all foreigners, suffer: Honda is down -16.6%, BMW off -13.1%, Nissan down -8.9% and Audi at -1.5%.

Geely sales are boosted by the Galaxy NEV lineup. Pictured is the Galaxy Starshine 8.

Among other overseas carmakers, Buick (+46%) surprises with a rare significant gain but Mercedes (-25.4%) and Tesla (-30.1%) both implode. There are a lot of great performers within the up-and-coming domestic brands. Up to a record 12th place (previous best #17 last March), Leapmotor surges 128% to 41,409 units – also a new record. LI Auto (+16.7%) and AITO (+13.7%) are more discreet however they were both evolving at record levels a year ago. Xiaomi (+224%) confirms its blockbuster status, having stabilised around 28,000 monthly sales and awaiting the new YU7. Xpeng (+194.9%) benefits from the success of the new Mona M03 and P7+, with Deepal (+118%), Arcfox (+200.2%), Fang Cheng Bao (+418.2%) and AvatR (+232%) also making great progress. Among mainstream foreign manufacturers, notice Chevrolet down -87.6%, Hyundai off -55.4%, Land Rover down -32.7%, Ford down -27.3%, Cadillac at -24.5%, Volvo off -8.2% and Mazda down -6.1%.

As for the models ranking, the new Geely Xingyuan secures a third win in the past four month and breaks its volume record, strengthening its hold on the YTD order with almost 20,000 units more than the #2, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+76.5%), #4 for the month. The BYD Seagull (-7.3%) remains in second place above the BYD Qin Plus (-39.7%), ranking #6 year-to-date vs. #2 over the Full Year 2024. The Nissan Sylphy (-9.4%) is the best-selling foreign model at #5, with the Tesla Model Y (-38.1%) at #8 and the VW Lavida (-4.3%) at #10 the only others in the Top 10. The Xiaomi SU7 (+224%) is down two spots on April to a still very respectable #6 with the BYD Qin L (+7549.8%) and Song Plus (+27.5%) making it four BYDs inside the Top 10.

Previous month: China wholesales April 2024: Geely up 115.5%, BYD up 1.4%

One year ago: China wholesales May 2024: AITO, NIO, Zeekr break records

Full May 2025 Top 100 All brands and Top 589 All models below.