China wholesales First Half 2025: Sales up 12.2%, Geely above VW, Xingyuan takes control

The Geely Xingyuan sells over 200,000 units in just 6 months.

Over the First Half of 2025, Chinese passenger vehicle wholesales (= factory shipments) gain a splendid 12.2% year-on-year to 13,279,000 units. This is a new record at this stage of the year, eclipsing the previous mark hit in 2022, and to be compared with 11,830,000 over H1 2024. Among these, SUVs grow 11.7% to 7,052,000, cars are up also 11.7% to 5,644 and MPVs soar 25.4% to 583,000. Cumulative output is up 13.5% to 13,426,000, also a new record. Total passenger vehicle exports are up 6.8% to 2,479,000.

BYD (+13.2%) slightly outpaces its home market to approach the 1.5 million unit milestone, with the biggest event being the 2nd place of Geely (+88.1%), coming from #4 a year ago and leapfrogging past Volkswagen (+0.1%) and Toyota (+9.1%) both trailing the overall growth rate. Changan (-4.4%) struggles but gains one spot to #5, taking advantage of the cratering of Honda (-29.6%) down from #5 a year ago to #8. Wuling (+24.1%) and Chery (+25.1%) crack the Top 10, landing at #6 and #7 respectively. The next five carmakers, all foreigners, skid down: Nissan (-17.6%) is hit hardest and loses its Top 10 spot to #13, with BMW (-15.5%), Mercedes (-14.4%), Audi (-7.8%) and Tesla (-5.4%) also in the red.

We welcome the new brand Stelato on the Chinese market.

As it has been the trend since the pandemic, domestic manufacturers fare much better. Hongqi (+9.5%) and Li Auto (+7.9%) are relatively weak but remain in the Top 15, with Leapmotor (+122.7%) surging from #29 over H1 2024 directly to #17, even ranking #12 in May. Xpeng (+243.1%) and Xiaomi (+426.4%) do even better, with Deepal (+72.5%), Denza (+30.5%), Jetour (+23.5%), Lynk & Co (+22.1%) and Haval (+19.1%) also very solid. The most popular new brand launch is Onvo (#52), followed by Stelato (#66), 212 (#71) and Firefly (#72).

Model-wise, we have a complete reshuffle atop the charts. Launched in September 2024, the Geely Xingyuan spectacularly takes the overall lead, and by a large margin, the only model to surpass the 200,000 unit milestone. It held the monthly top spot three times over the period, improving its record volume to over 40,000 units in June. #4 a year ago, the BYD Seagull (+4.2%) becomes the brand’s best-seller at #2, dislodging the Tesla Model Y (-17.5%) in difficulty and down to #3. The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+105.4%) surges 15 spots to #4 thanks to the addition of a 4-door variant. Leader a year ago, the BYD Qin Plus (-32.2%) freefalls to #5, distancing the Xiaomi SU7 (+419%) and Geely Xingyue L (+61.3%).

Previous post: China wholesales June 2025: Market up 13.8%, Leapmotor breaks record, Tesla Model Y #1

One year ago: China wholesales First Half 2024: BYD Qin Plus overtakes Tesla Model Y

Full H1 2025 Top 113 All brands and Top 641 All models vs. H1 2024 figures below.