The latest statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) show further growth in plug-in cars in China in August: the 1.395 million units registered represent an increase of 27 percent compared to the same month last year and an increase of 10.5 percent compared to July. Exports from China are playing an increasingly important role in this: the number of NEV vehicles exported doubled last month compared to August 2024.
The reason for this is that CAAM sales figures include manufacturers’ wholesale sales, i.e., both domestic sales and exports. As is well known, the new energy vehicles (NEVs) included in the statistics comprise battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) – however, fuel cells do not play a significant role in the passenger car sector in China.
The nearly 1.4 million new NEVs are the best result of the year so far, but still below the figures for the fourth quarter of 2024, when China recorded an extremely strong year-end surge. However, the sales curves of the past two years, with their characteristic late upward momentum, suggest that 2025 could also see another increase in the fourth quarter – which the upcoming monthly statistics will show.
48.8 percent of new registrations have an alternative drive system
But back to the August results. Within wholesale sales of new energy vehicles, the majority were BEVs: 908,000 units represent the third-best figure ever – 40.5 percent more than in August 2024 and 12 percent more than in July 2025. Plug-in hybrids, which also include range extender models (EREV), had recently caught up strongly in China. However, with 487,000 PHEVs sold, sales here rose by only 7.5 percent compared to the previous year and by only 8 percent compared to July. The trend toward only moderate growth for plug-in hybrids has been evident since June.
Across all drive types, sales totaled 2.857 million vehicles, representing an increase of 16.4 percent over the previous year and 10.1 percent over July. NEVs thus account for 48.8 percent of electric vehicles. NEV penetration in this segment has been fairly constant since the spring. NEV exports are becoming an increasingly important factor in the CAAM statistics. For the fourth month in a row, they recorded growth of over 100 percent compared to the previous year. For August, the increase was 104 percent to 224,000 units. This means that 16 percent of new Chinese NEVs were sold abroad.
BYD remains the undisputed leader among manufacturers, but is experiencing atypical stagnation. The market leader sold 373,626 new energy vehicles, up 0.15 percent on the previous year and 8.5 percent more than in July, when BYD recorded declining sales figures for the first time in years. BYD’s weak performance, relative to its usual standards, is primarily related to the PHEVs in its range: while electric cars grew significantly (+34.4% YoY), plug-in hybrids declined (-22.7% YoY). In terms of exports, BYD recorded 80,813 NEVs for foreign markets in August (+157% YoY) – almost identical to July.
Geely Auto, on the other hand, is experiencing a major upswing with 93,362 BEVs (+98% YoY) and 53,985 PHEVs (+90% YoY) in August. The electric brand Zeekr, which also belongs to the Geely Group, only managed 17,626 units (-2% YoY).
Tesla China sold 83,192 electric cars built in Shanghai in August, 4 percent less than a year ago. Of these, 26,040 units were exported (+12% YoY) and 57,152 BEVs (-10% YoY) remained in China. Compared to July, however, the number of Teslas sold locally rose significantly again – by 41 percent. Among all Teslas originating from Shanghai, the Model Y accounted for the lion’s share with 58,888 (+5% YoY), while the Model 3 accounted for 24,304 units (-20% YoY).
Meanwhile, Tesla is being closely followed by the Chery Group with cross-brand sales of 71,218 NEVs (+53% YoY). Leapmotor is also keeping pace, recording 57,066 NEV sales last month, an increase of 88 percent over the previous year and now the second month above the 50,000 mark.
Xpeng remains consistently behind them with 37,709 BEVs (+169% YoY) and now ten months in a row above the 30,000 sales mark. Great Wall Motors follows closely behind with 37,495 NEVs (+51% YoY). Xiaomi’s August performance is noteworthy, with 36,396 BEVs, of which a good 16,500 units are accounted for by the new YU7 model. Nio is keeping pace with a strong 31,305 BEVs. Previously, the company tended to hover around the 20,000 sales mark. The core brand contributed 10,525 units to the August results, while the new Onvo and Firefly brands already contributed 16,434 and 4,346 passenger cars, respectively.
Li Auto, on the other hand, is not having a good run. The startup delivered only 28,529 vehicles in August (-41% YoY) and is thus having to cope with sharply declining figures for the third month in a row.
Meanwhile, the SAIC Group sold 22,000 NEVs (+209% YoY) under its SAIC MOTOR Passenger Vehicle brand in August. Looking at the entire group, including joint ventures with foreign manufacturers (such as Volkswagen), SAIC sold 129,771 NEVs in August.
cnevpost.com (CAAM), cnevpost.com (BYD), cnevpost.com (Tesla), cnevpost.com (Tesla II), cnevpost.com (Tesla III), cnevpost.com (Xiaomi), nio.com, ir.xiaopeng.com, cnevpost.com (Leapmotor), cnevpost.com (Zeekr), cnevpost.com (Geely), cnevpost.com (GWM), cnevpost.com (Li Auto), autonews.gasgoo.com (Chery), autonews.gasgoo.com (SAIC)
This article was first published by Cora Werwitzke for electrive’s German edition
