China's electric vehicle market to grow at 63.0% annually in April 2022, a record low since 2020
According to Researcher and Research LLC, due to the lockdown of some regions and the constraint of the supply chain, sales of China's electric vehicle (EV) market were weak at 282,016 units in April 2022, with an annual growth rate of 63.0%, which was the lowest level in two years but its share of the global EV market grew to 52.1% from 41.3% in the same period last year. The sales proportions of battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) were 75.8% and 24.2%, respectively, and compared with 82.1% and 17.9% a year ago, PHEV showed significant growth. EV and BEV penetration rates reached 28.4% and 21.5%, respectively, increasing a lot from 10.6% and 8.7% in the same period last year. We expect April to be the year’s trough, with sales in May surpassing April. However, sales will remain weak in May due to the impact of the Chinese COVID policy. We believe the second half of the year will see substantial growth in demand for EV in China as new local incentives emerge, coupled with zero subsidies scheduled for next year. Therefore, we maintain our previous estimate for the 2022 China EV market at 5.8 million units, representing an annual growth rate of 79.5%.
Figure 1 Sales of the top 20 best-selling EV models in China in April 2022
In terms of best-selling EV models, the top 20 sold a total of 172,550 units, with a market share of 61.2%, a significant increase from 42.6% a year ago. This is also the first time Chinese brands swept the board in the top 20 models. Tesla's production and sales were hit hard due to the lockdown in Shanghai, while BYD grew the most, taking nine of the top 20 spots, as shown in figure 1. It is not an overstatement to say that BYD is China's national EV brand.
Figure 2 Sales of the top 20 best-selling BEV models in China in April 2022
GM Wuling HongGuang Mini still dominated the sales of mini car segment, as shown in figure 2. Among the top 20 BEV models, mini car was still the largest segment, while compact SUV grew significantly, especially BYD Dolphin. In addition, VW ID.4 was the only non-Chinese brand on the list.
Figure 3 Annual growth rate and market share of the top 15 EV OEMs in China in April 2022
BYD, which had the best performance among the top 15 EV OEMs, led the pack in April with a market share of 37.4% and an annual growth rate of 392.0%. Chery, Geely, and Dongfeng widened the gap with other automakers in both market share and growth rate. VW Group had the sixth position, which was its best performance this year. Furthermore, Nio, SAIC, Li Auto, and GreatWall were among the top 15 automakers with negative growth rates.
Note:
Researcher and Research LLC here defines EV as battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), with passenger car as the primary purpose.
Ps. We will change the Global EV Snapshot into a more concise format. Thanks for your understanding.