China's new energy vehicle market experienced a hot 2020, though that hotness was not equal, with certain companies appearing to be hotter than others.
China sold 25.311 million vehicles in 2020, down 1.9 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. And new energy passenger vehicle sales reached 1.247 million units in 2020, up 14.6% compared to 1.091 million units in 2019.
Unlike 2019, when the market was supported by a number of mainstream brands and models, the 2020 new energy vehicle market was supported by more "phenomenal" models.
Tesla Model 3 and Wuling Hongguang MINI EV sales were as high as 137,000 and 128,000 units respectively, accounting for 21% of total new energy passenger vehicle sales.
It is worth mentioning that the China-made Model 3 went on sale at the end of 2019 and SAIC-GM Wuling's Hongguang MINI EV only went on sale on July 24, 2020, and these two vehicles are the main increment of the whole market.
Wuling Hongguang MINI EV achieved 128,000 units of sales in five months, and December sales exceeded 35,000 units.
If the sales of Tesla Model 3 and Wuling Hongguang MINI EV are removed, the total sales of all other new energy passenger vehicles in 2020 will be only 982,000 units, down 10% from 1,091,000 units in 2019.
This sales divergence is also reflected in the changes in the performance of the top three new energy vehicle companies in 2019.
The top three sales of new energy vehicles in 2019 were from BYD, BAIC New Energy and Geely.
In 2020, BYD sales of new energy vehicles were 179,000 units, down 18.4% year-on-year. BAIC New Energy sales were 25,900 units, down 82.8%. Geely's sales were 68,000 units, down 40%.
SAIC-GM-Wuling and Tesla became the second and third places respectively, with SAIC-GM-Wuling's sales soaring to 174,000 units from 60,000 in 2019; and Tesla's total sales reaching 148,000 units.
In addition, in 2019 and before, few of the top 10 models in the sales chart were priced above RMB 300,000 yuan. However, in 2020, several high-end models priced above this threshold appear in the top 10 sales, including the Nio ES6, Li ONE, and Tesla Model 3.
