Chinese New Energy Vehicle Market Recovered in May with A 53% Surge in Sales

SHANGHAI, Jul 4 (SMM) – A total of 702,000 new energy vehicles were sold worldwide in May, up 43% MoM and 57% YoY. Among them, 512,000 pure electric cars were sold, an increase of 39% month-on-month, accounting for 73% of the total sales, while 189,000 plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) were sold, an increase of 54% month-on-month, accounting for 25%. As the biggest NEV market in the world, China sold 427,000 NEVs in May, an increase of 53% MoM and accounting for 61% of the global market. Europe sold 164,000 NEVs in May, an increase of 8% MoM. The top seven markets in Europe were Germany, France, Britain, Norway, Italy, Sweden and Belgium, which together accounted for over 80% the sales in Europe. The United States sold just 85,000 NEVs in May, a decrease of 2% MoM.  
With the improvement of the domestic pandemic situation, the sales of NEV manufacturers recovered to varying degrees in May. The NEV sales of BYD, which ranked the top, have been growing steadily. Its sales exceeded 110,000 units for the first time in May, reaching 114,000 units, an increase of 8% month-on-month and 261% year-on-year. This is the second time that BYD's monthly sales have exceeded 100,000 units this year, and its sales look set to still have room to grow. At BYD's recent shareholders’ meeting, its chairman revealed that BYD currently has orders for more than 500,000 NEVs, and the delivery cycle requires 5-6 months. BYD has rolled new car models such as Han DM-i/DM-p and Tang DM-i/DM-p off production lines. After experiencing a sharp decline in sales in April, Tesla’s sales rebounded in May. At present, the production capacity of Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and its sales in May reached 84,771 units, an increase of 54% month-on-month and 15% year-on-year. Hyundai and Kia managed to maintain their market share in Europe on the back of their price advantages, but were dwarfed by strong competitors in China. In May, the sales of Hyundai and Kia were 17,315 units and 17,408 units respectively, with the latter registering a MoM decline of 12%.

The top three best-selling models were still Tesla Model Y, Wuling Hongguang MINI and Tesla Model 3. The sales of Model Y were 45,000 units in May, up 57% MoM, and those of Wuling Hongguang MINI were 34,000 units, up 25% MoM and 27% YoY. Affected by pandemic-induced closure of Tesla’s Shanghai factory and exports to other countries, the sales of Model 3 were unsatisfactory in May and stood at just 33,000 units, up 51% MoM, but down 20% YoY. However, the sales of Model 3 will gradually return to normal after production at the Shanghai factory was fully restored in June.  BYD sold 11,000 units of Qin PLUS DM-i in May, down 11% month-on-month, but up 100% year-on-year. The sales of popular BYD models such as Qin and Dolphin declined to varying degrees on a MoM basis in May due to the suspension of production at its Changsha factory. However, the capacity of BYD will expand further with the commissioning of new production lines and completion of reconstruction of old production lines in Changsha.  

Although many factors such as the pandemic and shortages of battery cells still restricted the global auto market in May, the sales of new cars in various countries improved when compared with April. China was the best performer. After suffering a cliff-like decline in April, China's new energy vehicle market recovered in May. With the resumption of production in Shanghai and the introduction of NEV stimulus policies at both national and local government levels, NEV sales surged in May and are poised to hit new highs in H2.