Chinese Brands Wuling and BYD Knock BMW Down to No. 5 on the Global New Energy Vehicle Sales Ranking
A few days ago, the new energy vehicle media CleanTechnica announced its ranking of the global sales data of new energy vehicles in the first five months of this year. Tesla ranked first, SAIC-GM-Wuling ranked second and BYD ranked fourth, surpassing BMW and knocking it down to 5th place.
Data shows that Tesla still has an absolute advantage with 276,000 vehicles sold, nearly twice as many as SAIC-GM-Wuling which came in second with sales of 162,000 vehicles. Wuling was followed closely by Volkswagen, BYD, and BMW. The cumulative sales of new energy vehicles of these five car companies in the first 5 months exceeded 100,000 units. It is worth mentioning that BYD’s latest ranking rose by one place, successfully squeezing out BMW to rank fourth with a gap of over 5,000 vehicles.
The second and fourth place rankings of SAIC-GM-Wuling and BYD, together with the eighth-ranked SAIC Group, mean that Chinese brands now account for 3 of the top 10 new energy vehicle brands in the world. In the top 20 we find more Chinese brands, with Great Wall Motor, NIO and Guangzhou Automobile Group also on the list, ranking 14th, 17th and 18th respectively.
On the best-selling model list, Tesla Model 3 ranked first, with a cumulative sale of 173,000 units in the first five months of this year, followed by SAIC-GM-Wuling Hongguang Mini EV with 153,000 units, and Tesla Model Y ranked third, with a sales volume also exceeding 100,000 vehicles.
In the top 20, in addition to SAIC-GM-Wuling Hongguang Mini EV, BYD Han EV, Great Wall ORA Black Cat, GAC AION S, Changan Benben EV, and Li Auto ONE also entered the list.
In the Chinese market, new energy vehicle sales are still dominated by Chinese brands
Tesla may be the best-selling new energy vehicle in the world. However, It not the most popular brand in the domestic Chinese market. In the first five months of this year, SAIC-GM-Wuling Hongguang Mini EV ranked first in sales, with a cumulative sale of 152,700 vehicles. Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y ranked second and third, with sales respectively. 68,300 vehicles, 34,600 vehicles. If you want to know more about the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV click here.
In the Chinese market, sales of new energy vehicles are still dominated by Chinese brands. In addition to the three models mentioned above, the top 10 brands in sales in the first five months of this year are BYD Han EV, Great Wall ORA Black Cat, GAC AION S, Changan Benben EV, Li Auto ONE, Chery eQ, SAIC Roewe Clever EV.
This means that in the Chinese market, the top 20 best-selling models are all occupied by Chinese brands, except for the two Tesla models that are also made in China and the BMW 530Le plug-in version.
With Chinese brands having such a tight grip on the local EV market, we predict it will be difficult for western brands to break into these rankings, largely because without manufacturing in China like Tesla does, it will be hard to bring the price down enough to sell the volumes needed to enter the top 10.
