Nio 6,500, Xiaomi 6,700, Tesla 18,600, BYD 72,100

The China EV market gave mixed signals in the fourth week of December. Surprisingly, many automakers’ registrations didn’t reflect the end-of-the-year sales push and were lower than the previous week, while others rose heavily.

BYD registrations were 18% down, Leapmotor was down 11%, and Li Auto decreased by 4% compared with the week before. Nio was up 20%, Xiaomi increased by 12%, and Tesla was up 6% compared with the week before. Nio’s brand Onvo registered 4,200 units of its L60 SUV, up 100%.

Three stories to watch:

• Xpeng and Zeekr had a record-breaking week with 10,100 and 8,900 registrations, respectively.
• BYD was down 6% YoY, indicating the company didn’t do as hard an end-of-year sales push as in 2023
• Nio Inc. (Nio and Onvo brands) registered 10,700 EVs. For the four weeks of December, the combined registrations in China were 29,405 units (Dec 2-29).

Week 52 (W52) of the year was between December 23 and 29. Week 52 of 2023, used for year-on-year comparison, was between December 25 and 31. The insurance data are brand-related; for example, BYD includes only BYD brand car registrations, not Denza or Yangwang. Geely doesn’t include Zeekr, Nio doesn’t include Onvo, etc.

The weekly sales are published by Li Auto, and despite Li’s not explicitly saying it, they are based on insurance registration data. The numbers are rounded and present new energy vehicles (NEV) sales, the Chinese term for BEVs, PHEVs, and EREVs (range extenders). To be completely precise, it also includes hydrogen vehicles (FCEVs), but their sales are almost non-existent in China. Onvo registrations are not published by Li Auto but come from China EV DataTracker.

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W52 Leaderboard

BYD secured the top position with 72,100 insurance registrations in China, down 17.8% from 87,700 units the week before and 6.12% lower than 76,800 units in the same week the previous year. The cumulative registrations in the first four weeks of December (Dec 2-29) were 342,600 units.

Tesla registered 18,600 vehicles, a 5.7% increase from 17,600 units the previous week and a 17.72% rise compared to 15,800 units during the same week last year. The cumulative registrations for the first four weeks of December (Dec 2-29) were 76,600 units.

Tesla China sales were driven by the Model Y SUV, but recently, the Model 3 sedan has been gaining ground. Weekly data doesn’t provide a breakdown to models, but in November, Model Y contributed 60% and Model 3 40% of Tesla sales in China.

Tesla sold 73,490 EVs in China in November, its highest month in 2024.

Wuling reported 17,500 registrations, an 11.6% decline from 19,800 units the previous week but a 9.38% rise compared to 16,000 units in the same week last year. The cumulative registrations for the first four weeks of December (Dec 2-29) were 80,500 units.

Li Auto recorded 13,400 registrations, down 3.6% from 13,900 units the previous week and 4.96% lower than 14,100 units in the same week last year. Registrations in the first four weeks of December (Dec 2-29) were 54,000 units.

Volkswagen-backed Xpeng registered a record-breaking 10,100 vehicles, a significant 36.5% increase from 7,400 units the previous week and a remarkable 110.42% rise from 4,800 units in the same week last year. The registrations through December stand at 31,700 units.

Xpeng registrations include the Xpeng Mona M03 sedan, launched in August. Mona was initially supposed to be a separate brand, but Xpeng later made it only a series under the main Xpeng brand.

Xpeng Mona M03 is an entry-level liftback sedan that starts at 119,800 yuan (16,400 USD) in China. On December 27, Xpeng announced that its cumulative production had reached 50,000 units.

Stellantis-backed Leapmotor achieved 9,200 registrations, a 10.7% decline from 10,300 units the week before but a 104.44% increase from 4,500 units in the same week last year. The cumulative total for December is 38,000 units.

Geely’s Zeekr achieved a record-breaking 8,900 registrations, up 67.9% from 5,300 units the previous week and a substantial 111.90% increase from 4,200 units in the same week last year. The December cumulative total is 24,800 units.

Huawei’s Aito reported 8,200 registrations, up 6.5% from 7,700 units the week before and 38.98% higher than 5,900 units in the same period last year. The December cumulative figure is 28,600 units.

Changan’s Deepal recorded 7,100 registrations, a 6.6% decline from 7,600 units the previous week but a 69.05% increase compared to 4,200 units in the same period last year.

Xiaomi registered 6,700 vehicles, an 11.7% increase from the previous week’s 6,000 units. The cumulative December total stands at 23,900 units.

Xiaomi launched its first SU7 sedan on March 28, with deliveries starting in April. The initial target was to sell 100,000 units in 2024, which was later raised to 120,000 and then to 130,000.

Xiaomi announced on December 28 that it had reached its 130,000 delivery target. The SU7 competes with the Tesla Model 3 in China and starts at 215,900 yuan (29,570 USD).

Xiaomi’s second car – the YU7 SUV – will launch in June or July next year.

Nio recorded 6,500 registrations, up 20.4% from 5,400 units the previous week and 14.04% higher than 5,700 units in the same week last year. The registrations in the first four weeks of December (Dec 2-29) were 20,000 units.

Although Nio sells eight models, only two of them, the Nio ES6 (EL6 in Europe due to an intellectual property struggle with Audi) and the Nio ET5 (and its shooting brake variant ET5T), account for most of the company’s sales. Weekly data doesn’t provide a breakdown of models, but in November, those two models made up 77% of Nio sales.

Onvo registered 4,200 vehicles, up 101.0% from 2,090 units the previous week. Year-over-year data is not available. The December registrations through December stand at 9,405 units.

Onvo sells the only car, the L60 SUV, which was launched in September to compete with Tesla Model Y. It starts at 149,900 yuan (20,530 USD) in China with a 60 kWh battery pack from BYD.

Onvo president Alan Ai previously announced that he would resign if Onvo didn’t achieve 10,000 deliveries in December. Onvo reached this milestone on December 27, when the company announced Onvo L60 achieved

Huawei’s Luxeed registered 4,400 units, a 22.2% increase from the previous week’s 3,600 units. The December cumulative total is 14,700 units.