Sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids in China fell slightly in April. According to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), 606.8k new energy vehicles (NEVs) were sold in April, a 2% drop from March. However, compared year-on-year, this marks an increase of 116%. April’s NEV penetration rate reached 33.9%, a 2.9ppt jump over March and a 5.9ppt jump over last year.
A look at the manufacturers shows that BYD (SZ:002594) heads the list with 209.5k NEVs, a 99% increase over last year’s numbers, bringing the company’s market share in the country to 34.5%. Over 1/3rd of all-electric vehicles in China. In the first quarter of 2023 BYD’s Qin Plus became the best-selling car for both plug-in hybrid and pure electric versions, while the second and third best selling cars were the BYD Dolphin and BYD Yuan Plus respectively. This means that the top three best-selling cars in China in April all came from BYD.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) officially ranks second with 75.8k units, a 4916% increase over last year’s April numbers. The company’s Model 3 and Y logged 26.8k and 49.1k units of sales, with -2% and -20% MoM respectively. Earlier this month, the EV manufacturer raised the prices of several of its models in China. It hiked the prices of its top two models — the Model Y and Model 3 — by $290 (2,000 RMB), and the Model S and Model X’s prices by $2,751 (19,000 RMB). The move follows six rounds of price cuts from January to April this year, which prompted more than 40 local and global car brands to slash their own prices to stay competitive.
Of the emerging brands in the country, XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) sold 7.1k units, up 1% for the month but down 21% compared to last year. NIO’s (NYSE:NIO) wholesales were up 31% YoY to 6.7k units, while Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) leads the three with a 516% jump over last years performance, selling 25.7k units.
Shares of TSLA are up 2.46% in pre-market trading on Friday, while XPEV, NIO, and LI down 5.3%, 1.18%, and 1.11% respectively.