China October 2016 (Updated)

Beijing Auto (BAIC): Has BYD found its nemesis?

BAIC Shines (Again)

The Chinese market had more than 32.000 new EV's zooming the streets in October, with the market up a mere 3% over the previous month, but still, it was a 46% increase over the same month last year, so not all is bad.

With the market share continuing to rise steadily, now at around 1.4%, the Chinese EV market is headed for some 400.000 units by December, 31^st, which will not only beat North America and Europe as major selling markets, both in volume and market share, but would also mean that China will absorb around half of the EV’s delivered in 2016.

In October, BYD managed to place only one model among the Top 5, the veteran e6, against two models from Beijing Auto, with BAIC repeating their Gold & Bronze medals of September, while the Chery eQ filled its predecessor big shoes and collected a Top 5 position. 

BYD’s last performances have been particularly disappointing, as the brand seems to have stopped growing, with October being the fifth consecutive month of 10.000-something performances, in stark contrast to Beijing Auto, that in the same period jumped from 4.116 units to more than seven thousand. Can it be that BAIC will put BYD’s domination to an end soon? 

Here are last month Top 5 Best Selling models:

#1 – BAIC EU260: Beijing Auto’s new poster-child for success, the EU260 (The “260” is its range in kms) has hit once again record heights, with 4.580 units, a new year high in China and a new volume record for any BAIC model. Sitting at the heart of the plug-in sedan market, with a price of 255k Yuan (+/- 37k USD), for reference, the fancier BYD Qin EV300 starts at 260k, while the more utilitarian BYD e5 costs 240k, this model seems set to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

#2 - BYD e6: Having been launched back in 2010, this BYD model is currently the Granddaddy of Chinese EV’s, being a popular model among fleet companies, in China and abroad, it must have been one of those fleet deals that allowed it to surge deliveries to 3.118 units, allowing it to be the best selling BYD last month. With a massive 82 kWh battery and 400 kms range, expect the oldtimer to continue appearing regularly here.

#3 – BAIC E-Series EV: This Mercedes B-Class inspired BAIC hatchback has been the brand’s bread-and-butter model over the years, and despite the recent success of its EU260 sibling, BAIC had enough production capacity to keep the E-Series running at high voltage, with 2.395 units, repeating the September feat of having two models in the podium, something that must be sounding alarms at the BYD Headquarters…

 

#4 – Zhidou D1 EV: The tiny two-seater is becoming a regular here, repeating its Fourth Place again in October, with the D1 securing the Best Seller status of its class, with 2.308 units, a 98% increase YoY.

#5 – Chery eQ: This rather funky little hatchback is the spiritual successor of the QQ EV, a basic model that once epitomized what EV’s were like in China, having won the Best Seller trophy three years in a row, from 2011 to 2013. The eQ is a significant departure from its predecessor, as now it can be considered an actual car, with a 22 kWh battery, 200 kms range, a 56 hp engine and suitable equipment (Airbags, ABS, A/C and back radar), this can be considered the Mitsubishi I-Miev of China…And at 160k Yuan (+/- 23k USD), before incentives, it ought to. Last month it reached 2.130 sales, its best result to date.

Year-to-Date Ranking – It’s BYD vs BAIC all the way

If the podium remained unchanged, the following positions saw the Roewe e550 stumble two positions to #6, benefiting the now #4 BYD e6 and #5 BAIC EU260, two models that have broken their personal records last month, something that has a special meaning for the six-year-old BYD, which some time ago had 1.544 units delivered…During the whole year of 2013!

Other models from the two current Chinese powerhouses also climbed in the ranking, with the BYD Qin EV300 (2.124 units, new personal best) jumping three positions to #10, while the BAIC EX200 climbed one position to #19, but the 300 units delivered were somewhat disappointing, considering the great potential this compact Crossover has.

Final mention for the Zotye E200 city car, that by registering a record 1.655 units, jumped four positions to #14, becoming the one of the surprises of the month.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, BYD is the perennial leader, with 33% market share, followed by BAIC (14%, up 1%), which is cementing its dark horse status among the Chinese EV makers, with Zotye (8%, up 1%) replacing SAIC Roewe (7%, down 1%) in Third Place.

Finally, looking at the breakdown between BEV’s and PHEV’s, unlike other markets where plug-in hybrids are winning the upper hand, all-electric cars just continue improving its share, now at 72%, up 2% regarding last month.

Pl	China	Oct.	YTD	%
1	BYD Tang	1.529	28.317	11
2	BYD Qin	1.538	19.929	8
3	BAIC E-Series EV	2.395	17.852	7
4	BYD e6	3.118	16.008	6
5 6 7 8	BAIC EU260 SAIC Roewe e550 BYD e5 Chery eQ	4.580 527 1.943 2.130	14.727 13.600 11.106 10.857	6 5 4 4
9	Zotye Cloud EV	2.053	9.778	4
10	BYD Qin EV300	2.124	8.922	3
11	Zhidou D1 EV	2.308	8.787	3
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	JMC E100 JAC iEV4 Zotye E200 Geely Emgrand EV Zhidou D2 EV Tesla Model S Kandi K17 Cyclone BAIC EX200 Changan Eado EV Others	1.007 614 1.655 1.002 1.085 300 151 2.711	8.358 8.270 7.441 7.359 7.141 6.964 6.164 4.205 4.119 38.062	3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 15
	TOTAL Market	32.770	257.926	100

Also published in EV Obsession and CleanTechnica.