China wholesales August 2025: BYD down -20.7%, Geely up 83.6%, Leapmotor breaks record again

Geely posts another euphoric score in August.

CAAM data shows a Chinese wholesales market shooting up 16.4% year-on-year in August to 2,860,000 units, leading to a YTD tally up 12.6% to 21,130,000. New Energy sales soar 36.7% to 9,620,000 over the period. Looking a Passenger Vehicles only, they are up 14.5% to 2,458,000 for the month and up 13% to 18,019,000 year-to-date. This includes, in August, 1,021,000 cars (+15.7%), 1,347,000 SUVs (+14.3%) and 90,000 MPVs (+6.8%). Year-to-date figures show cars up 12.7% to 7,622,000, SUVs up 12.6% to 9,628,000 and MPVs up 22.7% to 768,000. China’s indigenous brands surge 20% year-on-year in August to 1,720,000 units or a whopping 70% of total Passenger vehicles. New Energy PV are up 22.3% to 1,282,000 or 52.2% share, with YTD volumes up 33.5% to 8,931,000 and 49.6% share. PV exports are up 20.2% to 499,000 while total vehicle exports stand at 763,000. YTD PV exports are up 11.3% to 3,471,000. 

The new Sealion 06 prevents BYD from falling even faster.

Confirming a trend we have seen in the past few months, BYD sinks -20.7% which is starting to be a little worrying for the carmaker, especially as profits are wobbly. The brand passes the 2 million unit milestone through August though, up 2.3% over the same period in 2024. Most of its superstar models are down, such as the Seagull (-50.8%), Song Plus (-67.1%), Qin L (-29.4%) and Qin Plus (-16.3%) and BYD avoids an even harsher fall thanks to recent launches such as the Sealion 06 (25,453), Seal 05 (13,495), Sealion 05 (12,515), Tang L (3,712), Han L (2,202) and Xiao (1,416).

The Nissan n7 crosses the 10,000 monthly sales mark in August.

In complete contrast but still over 111,000 sales behind, Geely surges another 83.6% to almost 173,000 units. The new Geely Xingyuan breaks its monthly volume record for the 8th straight month (!) and the Galaxy sub-brand is up 62.8% to 43,037. Old faithfuls such as the Boyue (+131.6%) and Binyue (+46.1%) also sport fantastic results. In third place, Volkswagen (-7.7%) disappoints once again, followed by Toyota (+0.8%). Chery (+13.2%) and Wuling (-9.1%) leapfrog past Changan (-3.1%) to #5 and #6 respectively, with Tesla (-9.9%) and Honda (-6.9%) in difficulty. Nissan (+24.8%) impresses at #10, helped by a strong Sylphy (+16.4%) and the success of its N7 electric sedan passing the 10,000 monthly sales mark for the first time this month.

Leapmotor is above 50,000 monthly sales for the first time.

Leapmotor (+82.7%) breaks its all time volume record for the 4th straight month, eclipsing the 50,000 milestone for the first time. Haval (+72.2%) also surges, while AITO (+19.3%) and BMW (+15.2%) are also sturdy. Mercedes (-24.5%) and Audi (-9.6%) are both hit hard. Xiaomi shoots up 177.6% to a new volume record as the SU7 sedan continues to gear up (+51.4%) and the YU7 SUV is already above 16,000 wholesales. Buick (+79.3%) proves that not all foreigners are in a rut thanks mainly to the Envision (+331.4%). Xpeng (+200.7%) is also at an all-time high volume, while Beijing (+77.5%), Deepal (+67.5%) and Qiyuan (+53.4%) also shine. Onvo, NIO’s mass market brand, surges to #29 with over 16,000 sales thanks to the arrival of the L90 three-row SUV. We welcome Maextro at #63 with already over 2,000 sales of its first model, the uber-luxurious S800.

The Xiaomi YU7 climbs the charts to #24.

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, as mentioned above the Geely Xingyuan is at record levels again and distances the Tesla Model Y (-13.1%) and Wuling Hongguang MINI EV (+43%) still boosted by the new 4-door variant. The BYD Qin Plus (-16.3%) is down two spots on last month to #4 above the Nissan Sylphy (+16.4%) repeating at #5 vs. #7 year-to-date. The BYD Seal 06 (-16.7%) follows just as the new BYD Sealion 06 skyrockets up 163 ranks on July to land directly at #7. The Geely Boyue (+131.6%) returns inside the Top 10 for the first time since June 2021 and ranks #19 year-to-date vs. #70 over the Full Year 2024. The third most popular recent launch is the Xiaomi YU7 at #24.

Previous month: China wholesales July 2025: BYD off -17.1%, Geely up 104.5%, Leapmotor in Top 10

One year ago: China wholesales August 2024: BYD, Jetour, Leapmotor break records, Seagull #1

Full August 2025 Top 100 All brands and Top 587 All models below.