China September 2015 (Updated)

New addition to the BYD stable: The e5, running in the generic compact sedan class

Record Edition - Changing Tide

Another record month in the Chinese EV Market, this time above 16.000 units, a world best, with the EV Share rising above 0.7%, an incredible result if you consider that last year ended at 0.25% and in 2013 it was just 0.09%!

Not only the numbers are growing exponentially (Up 170% YoY), but the ranking itself is changing rapidly, just two months ago the BYD Qin seemed unstoppable, selling 4.030 units, three times more than the Second Placed BAIC E-Series.

Third that month was the SAIC Roewe 550 PHEV, followed by the JAC i EV and the Kandi EV microcar.

In September, the Best Seller was no longer the Qin, relegated to a discrete Third with only 2.115 units, but the #1 was the Kandi Panda EV, with a personal record of 3.301 units, thus ending a 13 month consecutive streak of #1's for the Qin!

And the rest of the Top 5 has more surprises: The Tang SUV replaced the Qin as the  best selling BYD (The higher profit margin of the SUV might have something to do with this...), by selling 3.044 units (Record month) earning it a close Second (#1 in October?).

And if all this wasn't enough, BYD still managed to launch yet another Plug-in model (The seventh!) to the market: The e5 pure electric debuted with its first 125 registrations, a strong start that might indicate another hot seller for BYD.     

Next Number One?

But it weren't just the Kandi Panda EV and BYD Tang breaking records, others also have outdone themselves:

- The Denza finally broke out of the hundred-something spell, registering a record 252 units;

- The SAIC Roewe E50 sold 92 units, a new year best;

- Year best also for the BAIC E-Series, with 2.100 units.

Considering the current performance and that December is usually the EV's best selling month in China, i would say that month will pass the 20k units without a sweat.  

Looking at the YTD ranking, the top two remain the same, but we have a new Third, with the Kandi Panda EV jumping six(!) positions, while the Tang SUV surged to #8, a five positions jump that will probably be repeated next month.

On the losers side we have the Zotye Zhidou E20 down two positions to #7, something is happening to this model, in June it was Third, but since then sales have been in free fall, but it wasn't the only model to drop on the ranking, both Cheries(?), the QQ EV and the eQ, were down to #10 and #12.

Are Chinese plug-in consumers dropping microcars/City cars for larger ones? 

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, BYD is as always, comfortably ahead in #1, this time with 37% share, followed by Zotye and Kandi, both with 13%, and BAIC (10%) in Fourth. 

So in short, China's EV Market is booming and unlike past months, where it was dependent of a single model, right now there are several cars pulling the market up, in a sustained way, confirming what many analysts have been saying for years: The EV Revolution will happen first in China. 

Pl	China	Sep.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	BYD Qin	2.115	26.156	26	1
2 3 4	BAIC E-Series EV Kandi Panda EV SAIC Roewe 550 PHEV e)	2.100 3.301 800	10.344 6.955 6.878	10 7 7	5 8 9
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15	Zotye Cloud / Z100 EV Kandi EV e) Zotye Zhidou E20 BYD Tang JAC i EV e) Chery QQ EV e) BYD e6 Chery eQ Tesla Model S e) BYD Denza EV Venucia E30 / Morning Wind	877  750 197 3.044 500 400 465 573 478 252 119	6.815 5.969 5.957 5.611 5.086 4.504 3.922  3.801 3.025 1.116 774	7  6 6 6 5 4 4 4 3 1 1	N/A 2 4 N/A 10 3 7 12 6 17 11
	TOTAL	16.609	99.748	100

Source: Chooseauto.com.cn