Monday, July 17, 2017

China June 2017

Image result for byd dynasty
BYD Dynasty Concept

BYD turns on Warp Speed

The Chinese market had more than 43.000 new EV's zooming the streets last month, with the market growing below expectations, at 16% YoY, this performance from China feels like when LeBron James scores 28 points in a NBA Finals game, it would be a great score for anyone else, but people expect more from the star of the team.

Anyway, the EV market share grew to 1.5%, already beating last year record (1.45%), expect that as the year progresses and sales expand, the Chinese PEV market to surpass the 2% share by year end.

This is still a highly protected market, where 93% of sales belong to domestic brands. Of the 7% left for foreign brands, 6% belong to Tesla, with the remaining 1% divided by all other auto makers.

In June the Zhidou D2 EV was once again the best-selling model, surpassing BAIC’s golden boy EC180 in the lead of the YTD ranking, while BYD has beaten the Manufacturers all-time sales record, by registering 11.198 units last month, stepping up the pace and surpassing the previous leader Beijing Auto in the race for the Best Selling manufacturer.


Here’s June Top 5 Best Selling models individual performance:

 Image result for zhidou d2
#1 – Zhidou D2 EV: Bare-basics city vehicle that doesn’t inspire anyone, but surely continues to be delivered in record quantities (4.714 units in June), probably thanks to big fleet deals. This vehicle is sold as a Quadricycle (Think Renault Twizy class) in some European countries, with the following specs: 12 kWh battery, 120 kms range, 90 kms max.speed, all this for some 16.000€.

Image result for BYD Song DM
#2 – BYD Song PHEV: This is BYD’s “Model Y”, a VW Tiguan-sized SUV, here in plug-in hybrid version (The BEV has had its first units registered this month), in only its second full sales month, it registered 4.552 units, the second best score ever for a BYD model, with the Tang record of 5.503 units (Back in December ’15) probably being beaten this summer. Why is this model so disruptive? A) It is an SUV, and we know how they are sucking up sales everywhere (For some reason its sedan counterpart, the Qin, disappeared from the spotlight, expect something similar to happen somewhere in 2020 to the Tesla Model 3), and B) It has the same impressive specs that its larger brother Tang has (18.4 kWh battery, 70 kms range, 0-100 kms/h in 4.9 secs), but with a more affordable price (41.300 USD), which will make it the strongest candidate for the monthly Best Seller trophies in the coming months.

Image result for Chery eQ
#3 – Chery eQ EV: A consistent seller in China, the funky Chery eQ sold a record 3.466 units in June, this is one of my favorite Chinese urban EVs, for 22.000 Euro before incentives you get a decently equipped city car, with 22kWh battery and 200 kms range, with the only drawback being the weak engine (56 hp, 100 kms/h top speed), Add a bit more power to the engine and you could have a valuable competitor to the current crop of worldwide city EV's, as the Mitsubishi triplets are showing their age, the VW e-Up! is pricey, and the Smart Forfour ED…Well, it looks too goofy for my taste (What were Smart designers smoking when did this last generation?!?).

Image result for 2017 BYD e5
#4 – BYD e5: The Plain Jane BYD e5 sedan continues to impress, delivering another record performance (The third in a row), with 3.206 units last month. A favorite among taxi companies, along with its e6 older brother, the low key e5 actually has a lot going for it, spec-wise: 305 kms range from a 48 kWh battery and a healthy 218 hp, all for 230.000 Yuan (33.400$). A wolf in sheep’s clothing, isn’t it?

Image result for jac iev6s specs
#5 – JAC iEV6S: A vehicle in the intersection of the two hottest trends in China, Crossovers and EV’s, success seemed to escape it due to battery production constraints, but those days are now a thing of the past, having scored a record 3.001 deliveries last month, expect this Nissan Juke-sized Crossover to be a frequent sight here in the coming months, not only it has an attractive design, inside and out, but also decent specs: 114 hp, 251 kms range coming from a 33 kWh battery provided by Samsung.

Image result for BYD Yuan
BYD Yuan: The final piece in BYD's SUV trifecta should arrive in a few months


Year-to-Date Ranking – Zhidou D2 and BYD new Kings

The big news were of course the rise to #1 of the Tin Lizzie Zhidou D2 EV, with the BYD e5 finally reaching the podium, while the JAC iEV6S continues to climb the ladder, now jumping to #5.

But the sensation of the month was the BYD Song PHEV, shooting to #8 in only its second full month on the market, expect it in July to reach the Top 5 and maybe even the podium by the end of Summer.

A reference for both Teslas being present at the Top 20, by far the most successful foreign models, with the Third Best Selling overseas model being the BMW X1 PHEV, with an estimated 600 units delivered.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, BYD (19%, up 2%) is back at the Iron Throne, replacing the previous leader BAIC (17%, down 1%), with Warp Speed now turned on, expect BYD to distance itself from the competition at lightning speed.

In Third Place and without immediate pretensions to be the King of the Realm, we have  Zhidou, with 10% share, followed by SAIC (7%).

Pl
China
June
YTD
%
1
Zhidou D2 EV
4714
18693
10
2
BAIC EC180
2563
17939
10
3
BYD e5
3206
10826
6
4
SAIC Roewe eRX5 PHEV
1541
9205
5
5
JAC iEV6S
3001
8197
5
6
Geely Emgrand EV
478
7982
4
7
BYD Tang
1573
7502
4
8
BYD Song PHEV
4552
6838
4
9
Chery eQ
3466
6605
4
10
JMC E100
1153
6136
3
11
Changan Benni EV
1778
6064
3
12
Zotye E200
1568
5949
3
13
BAIC EU260
1333
5691
3
14
Kandi EV
315
4804
3
15
Tesla Model S e)
1600
4785
3
16
Tesla Model X e)
500
4514
3
17
BYD Qin EV300
593
4117
2
18
Zotye Cloud EV
1568
3687
2
19
JMC E200
759
3657
2
20
BAIC EX200
520
3577
2
Others
7110
32380

TOTAL
43891
179148



Published also in EVObsession and CleanTechnica

9 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 17, 2017

    "A reference for both Teslas being present at the Top 20, by far the most successful foreign models, with the Third Best Selling overseas model being the BMW X1 PHEV, with an estimated 600 units delivered."
    In this paragraph I understand that these some 600 BMW X1 PHEV units are for YTD, not for June as it is not in your June chart, am I wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, YTD. Sorry for not being clearer.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJuly 17, 2017

    Did the Qin totaly dissapear from the sales chart because it is a sedan or because it is a plugin hybrid and the consumers have now shown they prefer the BEV version Qin EV300 and the much lower priced striped down e5...
    Is BYD still planing a BEV Song and is the Yaun still supposed to be BEV??
    It would be very interesting and telling to see BEV Song sales next to the plugin hybrid version...
    I would like to see BYD go BEV only with no ICE or plugin hybrids and down market a bit as I think they could become a dominate EV company...
    The most interesting thing in China is still a year away when Chinas new quotas come in and VWs JV is producing BEVs along with what the other big auto companies are probably franticaly scrambling to do...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That should have also helped, but i believe that the car-to-SUV transfer is even more important.

      Although, i must say, the current success of the e5 is surprising me, there should be also many private buyers buying them.

      The Song BEV had their first units registered this June, so expect that version to show up here soon.

      As for the Yuan, expect it to show up once the Song BEV/PHEV twins are on cruise speed.

      Yes, the next 18 months should be really interesting, not only in China, but also in Western markets (Tesla Model 3, Leaf II...), Japan (Prius PHV and Leaf II) and South Korea (Ioniq and Niro plug-ins).

      Delete
  3. On May 10th Kandi filed a 10-Q with the SEC saying they had produced ZERO EV in the first quarter of 2017, yet on April 21st you produced a report stating that 1800 Kandi EV were produced in March and a total of 1899 YTD.

    On August 9th Kandi filed a 10-Q with the SEC stating that they had produced 365 EV in the second quarter, yet on July 17th you published a report stating that Kandi had produced 315 EV in June and a total of 4804 YTD.

    How do you explain this massive divide?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One thing is production, other is sales.

      But yes, there are unexplained diferences, i will check this in the next few days.

      Delete
    2. For most manufacturers that is true. However, in all of Kandi's storied (to put it politely) history they have never sold an EV to anyone who wasn't a related party. Perhaps you can try to locate an individual, just one would do, who owns a Kandi EV and then find out where it is serviced.

      Delete
    3. I might add that it is one thing to produce more than you can sell, but to sell 4000 more EV than you produced would indeed "shock the world" as Hu Xiaoming predicted.

      Delete