Sales figures for each month of 2023 have been announced, and the Chinese media has compiled the sales data for the fourth quarter of 2023, which has yielded surprising results. In the fourth quarter of 2023, 6.466 million new cars were sold in the Chinese market, with sales increasing by 14.2% compared to the same period last year.
There are two reasons for the significant growth in sales. The first reason is that the Covid-19 pandemic is still ongoing in China in the fourth quarter of 2022, which significantly affected production and sales activities, resulting in a decrease in sales in the fourth quarter of 2022. Therefore, the fourth quarter of 2023 saw a strong rebound in sales.
Another reason is that new energy vehicles played a crucial role in the market recovery and experienced significant growth. Among them, 1.645 million electric vehicles and 908,000 plug-in hybrid cars were sold, accounting for 39.5% of total vehicle sales.
Chinese automaker BYD topped the charts with sales of 778,307 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 22.1% compared to the same period last year. BYD has been the leader in sales among Chinese car brands for four consecutive quarters, with a market share of 12.04% in this quarter.
Volkswagen came in second place with sales of 666,892 vehicles, an increase of 10.1% compared to the same period last year, and a market share of 10.31%. Although Volkswagen was the sales champion in each quarter of 2022, BYD surpassed Volkswagen in sales in every quarter after entering 2023.
Toyota ranked third with sales of 454,428 vehicles. However, it decreased by 6.6% compared to the same period last year. It is the only brand among the top 5 brands that experienced a decrease in sales, with a market share of 7.03%. Honda and Geely made it into the top 5 with sales of 364,466 and 272,436 vehicles, respectively.
BYD has expanded its dominance in the new energy vehicle (NEV) sector, leading in electric and plug-in hybrid cars. BYD has a market share of 25% in the pure EV market in China. The brand’s dominance is even more evident in the PHEV category, where it holds a 39% market share in December.
In the pure electric vehicle market, BYD sold 425,121 vehicles, capturing a market share of 25.84%. Tesla ranked second with sales of 169,935 vehicles, with the Model Y alone selling over 136,000 vehicles. In the electric vehicle sales rankings, Wuling, Aion, and Volkswagen ranked third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.
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