The Volkswagen Group ranked first last year by selling over 3.23 million vehicles in China. BYD, which is rapidly growing led by electric vehicles, is closely trailing behind.
According to Chinese economic media Caixin on the 11th, the Volkswagen Group sold 3.236 million vehicles in China last year, a 1.6% increase compared to the previous year. The Volkswagen and Jetta brands recorded 2.399 million units, up 0.1%, while Audi recorded 729,000 units, up 13.5%. Volkswagen operates joint ventures locally in China with FAW and SAIC. BYD closely followed by selling a total of 3.024 million units last year.
According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the market share of local Chinese brands in the passenger car market hovered around 40% from 2011 to 2020, but last year (cumulative from January to November) increased their share to 55.8%. Based on monthly data from November last year, the share rose to 59.7%.
In particular, the growth of new energy vehicles, including electric vehicles, drove the increase in market share for local brands. In December last year, new energy vehicle sales accounted for 40.8% of the total market. Among these, local brands accounted for 59.3%, while foreign companies and joint ventures between foreign and local companies accounted for only 7.4%. Gongmin, head of UBS China Automotive Research, forecasted, "By 2030, local Chinese brands will hold 80% of the Chinese market share."
Volkswagen plans to implement price promotions and other measures to expand electric vehicle sales. Last year in China, Volkswagen sold 192,000 electric vehicles, a 23.2% increase from the previous year.
In November last year, the Volkswagen Group announced the development of an affordable electric vehicle platform in China, aiming to shorten the product launch cycle by 30%. Earlier in July, it announced a collaboration with Xiaopeng to launch two mid-sized electric vehicles by 2026.
Meanwhile, the American company General Motors (GM) sold 2.1 million vehicles in China last year, a 9% decrease compared to the previous year. US sales last year increased by 14% to 2.59 million units, marking the first time in 14 years since 2009 that sales in China fell below those in the US.
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