3 Models from BYD, AITO's M7 SUV, and the Tesla Model Y Secured the Top Five Spots in the best-selling models in China

Following the December sales peak, January began with an anticipated sales decline, but it was smaller than anticipated, with numbers nearly doubling compared to the previous year. Despite January 2023 facing numerous challenges, such as a COVID-19 surge, the end of EV subsidies on January 1st, and the Lunar New Year celebrations falling in January, the year began with approximately 668,000 passenger new energy vehicle registrations.

Due to the aforementioned factors that depressed January 2023 sales, the overall market also experienced a significant jump, growing by over 44% year-over-year (YoY) to over 2 million units. This allowed the plugin vehicle (PEV) share to start the year at a high of 32% (18% BEV). Although this score is below the final 2023 result of 37% PEV share (25% BEV), it is expected that this mark will be achieved sometime in the summer, and the year will end with a share of over 45%. Some months in the last quarter of the year are expected to end with a share above 50%.

In January, pure electric models, which saw a 55% YoY increase, lost some of their dominating position in the market, accounting for just 56% of sales, a decrease of 8 percentage points compared to the same period in 2022.

Reflecting the current trends of the Chinese EV market, the top 5 models in the previous month included 3 models from BYD, AITO's M7 SUV, and the Tesla Model Y.

The top 10 best-selling EV models in China:

When it comes to manufacturer ranking, the year began as it ended the previous one, with BYD maintaining its lead with a 28.5% share. Geely followed in second place with 6.2%, closely followed by Tesla in third place with a 6% share. Wuling took fourth place with 5.9%, and Li Auto rounded out the top five with 4.7%.