From beinning of February 2023, some domestic new energy vehicle businesses have already announced their sales for February 2023. According to estimates from the Federation, the domestic new energy passenger car makers’ wholesale volume in January was only 410,000 units, down from approximately 45% in December due to the Spring Festival holiday and the removal of new energy vehicle incentives. However, there are still many companies that are doing well.
With 151,341 vehicles sold in January, an increase of 58.6% from the same month last year, BYD remained the top seller. There were 71,000 EV models and 78,000 DM models in all. By only looking at all-electric vehicles and eliminating plug-in hybrids, BYD maintains its top position. Thus, BYD’s current momentum is pretty strong. Predictions state that BYD will debut new models and go in a more premium direction in 2023. For BYD, 2023 will still be a year to look forward to.
The second notable Tesla brought about a wave of sales indications after the strategy of a significant price decrease in the end of 2022; sales in January hit 66,000 vehicles. Tesla is the second most popular automaker after BYD. It only used two models and still got such great results. Despite price cuts, Tesla has maintained solid profit margins. The redesigned Model 3 will most likely be the most significant change to domestic Tesla this year. If other Chinese automakers do not release cheaper and better models than Tesla, Tesla may still do well in China with 229,900 vehicles, but it will need to go further unless a new, less expensive model is introduced.
With 15,000 units, Ideal Car is the third automaker to keep an eye on. Even after accounting for the price of ideal L9 and ideal L8, this accomplishment is still very impressive. Even better than Nio, which sells 8,506 automobiles per month, it is difficult to sell more than 10,000 vehicles in this upscale market. Xiaopeng, however, feels left out with only 5,218 vehicles.
Following Tesla’s price reduction from the previous year, Huawei AITO is the fourth automaker to keep a watch on. Huawei’s AITO sales, meanwhile, have not greatly increased while Tesla’s sales have skyrocketed. As the most popular extended-range hybrid brand, users frequently compare AITO with Ideal. More customers might become interested in the Ideal as its product force becomes more apparent. Although the AITO greatly benefits from having Huawei’s sales channel, I think it still needs to be strengthened in terms of product quality.
Aean, SAIC, Changan, Geely, and some other well-known automakers have also sold more than 10,000 new energy vehicles. There are no other joint venture brands on the list besides FAW-Volkswagen. The list does not include Toyota, Honda, Nissan, or General Motors. These joint venture brands are predicted to lose market share in China if the current trend continues.