New energy vehicles took a record 65.1% of Chinese passenger car sales in July, but NEV volumes fell about 2% year on year, a seventh straight monthly decline, while the total market dropped 18%. Geely’s Xingyuan was the bestseller and BYD’s best performer managed only fifth over six months.
Electric and hybrid cars took 65.1% of Chinese passenger car sales in July, a record, according to China Passenger Car Association figures released Tuesday. It is a record reached for an awkward reason. New energy vehicle sales themselves fell, for the seventh month in a row.
NEV retail came to roughly 970,000 units, down about 2% on a year earlier, while the passenger market as a whole dropped 18%. Over the first seven months, NEV sales fell 12.5% and total passenger sales fell 20.3%. Electric cars are taking a larger slice of a considerably smaller cake.
That contraction is what Chinese carmakers have spent the year absorbing, and the market is heading for its worst year since 2021.
Geely’s Xingyuan led July with 32,306 units, ahead of Leapmotor’s A10 on 26,424 and Tesla’s Model Y on 25,158, per CarNewsChina. Widen the window and the order shifts. Autohome data for the six months to July puts the Xingyuan first on nearly 197,500 and the Model Y second on more than 180,000.
