Electric vehicle pioneer Tesla continues to compete in the world’s largest auto market despite being in a disadvantageous position.
Unlike its closest rival, BYD, with a wide range of electric vehicle powertrains in its portfolio, Tesla only offers pure battery electric vehicles. That said, it is unsurprising that the American leader landed second in China’s New Energy Vehicle (NEV) sales ranking behind the Chinese giant in November.
Top NEV makers – Nov 2023
Presented below are the top NEV makers in China in November 2023, released by the CPCA via CnEVPost:
| Rankings | NEV Maker | Sales |
| 1 | BYD | 263,066 |
| 2 | Tesla China | 65,504 |
| 3 | Geely | 63,462 |
| 4 | SAIC-GM-Wuling | 54,300 |
| 5 | Changan | 44,645 |
| 6 | Li Auto | 41,030 |
| 7 | GAC Aion | 40,815 |
| 8 | Great Wall Motor | 28,941 |
| 9 | Seres | 20,144 |
| 10 | Xpeng | 20,041 |
As you can see in the table presented above, BYD led the rankings with sales of 263,066 NEVs and a market share of 31.3%. Tesla China followed with 65,504 pure BEV sales with a 7.8% market share.
The top five were completed by Geely with 63,462 (7.6% market share), SAIC-GM-Wuling with 54,300, and Changan with 44,645 sales.
YTD rankings
This year to date, BYD remained dominant with sales of 2,405,860 NEVs and a 35.3% market share.
Tesla China trailed behind with only 527,859 BEV sales and a market share of 7.8%. GAC Aion managed to beat Geely for the third spot with NEV sales of 439,633 units and a 6.5% market share.
The top five were completed by Geely with 409,926 sales and SAIC-GM-Wuling with 390,679 units. Refer to the table below for the full top 10 list:
| Rankings | NEV Maker | Sales |
| 1 | BYD | 2,405,860 |
| 2 | Tesla China | 527,859 |
| 3 | GAC Aion | 439,633 |
| 4 | Geely | 409,926 |
| 5 | SAIC-GM-Wuling | 390,679 |
| 6 | Changan | 342,669 |
| 7 | Li Auto | 325,677 |
| 8 | Great Wall Motor | 208,932 |
| 9 | Nio | 142,026 |
| 10 | Leapmotor | 125,537 |
China’s passenger NEV retail sales – November 2023
Passenger NEV sales reached a total of 841,000 units at retail last month in China, as reported by Teslarati. It marked a significant milestone of crossing the 800,000-unit threshold for the first time, CPCA data revealed on December 8.
Of that total, BEVs accounted for 65.6%, with record-breaking 552,000 unit sales. Meanwhile, plug-in hybrids gained 34.4% of the market with record sales of 289,000 units.
Tesla’s goal of dominating the Chinese NEV industry would really be challenging as it only offers a limited lineup of battery-electric models.
In comparison, its closest Chinese rivals offer plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles. Nonetheless, the Musk-led company still managed to beat all its rivals except BYD in both the monthly and YTD rankings. It would be exciting to see how Tesla would exceed the Chinese giant’s unprecedented sales and delivery figures in the coming years.
