China produced 10.17 million vehicles between January 1 and April 30, data shared by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CPCA) on Sunday showed.
Production rose 13% when compared to the first four months of 2024, while sales increased 11% to 10.06 million units.
Sales of new energy vehicles (NEV), which include both fully electric and hybrid models, jumped 46% to 4.3 million units.
Retail sales amounted to 1,755,000 vehicles across all powertrains, a year over year increase of 14,5%.
Battery electric vehicles represented 61.8% of the market in April — meaning that nearly 2 out of 3 vehicles sold in China were fully electric.Â
In a total of 905,000 units registered, 260,000 were plug-in hybrid models (PHEV) while 86,000 were extended range (EREV).
From the 1,151,000 vehicles manufactured, 74,300 were BEVs — a 51.1% rise year over year. Hybrid models stood at 408,000 units, with EREVs posting a 59.8% jump in production.
Year-to-date retail sales of passenger cars in China rose 7.9% to about 6.87 million units, supported by local incentives aimed at boosting car purchases, CPCA said, while also mentioning the Shanghai Auto Show, which helped to increase demand.4
About 189,000 of the units produced were destined overseas, a 44.2% increase from the same period a year earlier.
Best-selling BYD Group sold 268,778 units, with the Geely Holding Group following at 118,813 vehicles. The company announced on Monday it is entering Romania, further expanding its global network — BYD aims for half of its sales to come from overseas by 2030.
Xiaomi’s debut model SU7 was the best-seller among vehicles priced over 100,000 yuan ($13,800), with 28,585 units registered, according to the Chinese platform Dongchedi. The company had said earlier this month that it sold “over 28,000” units.
Tesla registered 58,459 vehicles in China last month — down 5.96% year over year. The figures include models sold in China and overseas exports, as the brand focuses on exports from its Shanghai plant in the beginning of each quarter before delivering domestically.
Over the weekend, China and the United States agreed to ease tariffs for a period of 90 days, during which the U.S. will cut tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% (from 145%) while China will lower its levies to 10% (from 125%). The announcement took place early Monday, sending US-listed Chinese stocks higher.
The CPCA noted that Chinese-made electric vehicle brands might not be affected by steep US protectionist tariffs due to limited sales in the United States.
