China: Plug-In Car Sales Reach New Record In August 2021

China achieved a new all-time monthly sales record of plug-in electric car sales in August, beating the previous one (from June) by 22%.

In total, some 286,514 passenger plug-in cars were registered, which is roughly 187% more than a year ago.

Not only that, as the overall car market was down 12% year-over-year, plug-ins significantly expanded their market share to 19% (including 15% BEVs and 4% PHEVs)!

That's a very high level and we guess that in the last three months we will see even bigger records and market share beyond 20%.

Plug-in electric car sales in China – August 2021

So far this year, over 1.6 million passenger plug-in cars were sold (significantly more than in all of 2020), which is 12.4% of the total market. BEV share stands at 10.1%.

The total plug-in car sales in China might reach about 2.5 million in 2021.

Model rank

Let's now take a look at the best-selling models for the month, taking into account that Tesla once again has sent most of its production to Europe.

The top-selling electric model - Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV (at over 41,000) - in August was also the top model overall (although we must remember that it's a microcar).

The second best was the BYD Qin Plus PHEV (13,043), while the third was the Tesla Model Y (11,576),

1. Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV - 41,188
2. BYD Qin Plus PHEV - 13,043
3. Tesla Model Y - 11,576
4. Li Xiang One EREV - 9,433
5. SAIC Roewe Clever EV - 8,913
6. BYD Song Pro PHEV - 8,726
7. BYD Qin Plus EV - 7,633
8. Changan Benni EV - 7,358
9. BYD Han (BEV) - 6,198
10. XPeng P7 - 6,165

In the year-to-date comparison, there are no changes in the top 10. The Wuling microcar is followed by the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y and seven Chinese plug-ins:

1. Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV - 253,704
2. Tesla Model 3 - 92,755
3. Tesla Model Y - 59,900
4. BYD Han (BEV) - 50,455
5. Li Xiang One EREV - 48,176
6. Changan Benni EV - 45,206
7. BYD Qin Plus PHEV - 43,456
8. Great Wall Ora Black Cat - 41,760
9. GAC Aion S - 41,192
10. Chery eQ - 37,576

The SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture (between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Wuling Motors) has the largest market share in the plug-in segment so far this year - 17%. BYD, thanks to massive records, has expanded to 16%, while Tesla is third with 10%.