Automotive News China New EV Models - June 2016 - SIBEJO-

The number of models arriving to the local EV market is becoming increasingly larger and it is becoming common for one or two models to land every passing month, so we've created a new column called "New Models", where we look at the rookies.

BAIC EX200 - A fully-electric version of the Senova X25, this small Crossover (Think Nissan Juke) is at the verge of the two most important trends in China: SUV's and EV's, taking the BYD Tang career as a token for success, BAIC hopes this becomes it's best selling EV, beating its own EU260 (2.050 units last month) sedan, and replicating the successful career of its ICE counterpart, which is now at some 8.500 units per month. 

With a 30 kWh battery and 200 kms electric range, this model could be the right car SUV at the right time and win a Top 3 status soon in the Chinese EV market, something that the initial 800 units delivered in its debut month could work as a good sign of things to come.

Sales target: 3.000-4.000 units/month.

Tesla Model X - Although not a Chinese EV, this model comes from the only brand successfully importing plug-ins to China, so i think it was important to mention it here, with a dozen of deliveries in June, the bulk of the 2.600 Model X reservations made in China will be delivered in the second half of the year.

Tesla has a lot of hope for this model's career in China, because of the SUV-craze and the important asset that could become the unconventional (As in 10-times larger) air filter, although that success could be hampered by Tesla's own-production constraints.

Sales target: 500-1.000 units/month.

Automotive News China June 2016 - SIBEJO-

BAIC EU260

BYD Qin Reaches Third in Hot Market

The Chinese market had more than 34.000 new EV's zooming the streets last month, a 154% increase over the same month last year, in-line with the annual growth rate, with the EV market share edging closer and closer to the fabled 1%.

To have an idea on how significant these numbers are, in May Europe had 15.000 units registered, approximately the same number that the US had in June, if we combine these two numbers together, we have 30k, which is still less than the Chinese EV market had last month, so it�s safe to say that currently China sells more Plug-ins than Europe, the USA and Canada combined(!), and none of these markets is growing at a 150% rate... 

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

#1 - Kandi EV: One of the best-selling brands of 2015, Kandi hasn�t broken down registrations by model, but most of them should belong to the K11 Panda city car, with the slightly larger K17 Cyclone (Seen above) also taking significant part of the 4.670 units pie, at this point Kandi, along with BAIC, seem to be the only automakers able to reach similar production levels of BYD. 

#2 - BYD Tang: The 500 hp Chinese Cayennecontinues its success story in the EV market, with 3.519 units, the SUV has improved sales for the fourth consecutive time, its all-time record of 5.503 units is still far, but I wouldn�t be surprised to see it being broken around October.

#3 - BYD Qin: The most common plug-in in China, this 300 hp PHEV has registered 2.751 units, continuing on its growing sales trend for the fifth time in a row, will BYD be able to provide enough units to beat the Qin all-time record (4.030 units, July �15) by September?

#4 � Zhidou EV: This tiny two-seater city car has been updated to meet the new �Double 100� standard in China (100 kms range, 100 kms/hour max. speed), needed to be considered a full-fledged car and eligible to the government subsidies, so the 180 kms range EV is back at four-digit sales, with 2.363units, an honorable number for such a vehicle.

#5 - SAIC Roewe e550: Shangai-based SAIC expects to replicate the BYD Qin success with this one, the e550, the plug-in hybrid version of its 550 ICE Best Seller. For the moment, it has no reason to complain, as it has beaten its monthly sales record once again last month, with 2.329 units, so it seems we will continue to see it here frequently.

Year-to -Date Ranking

In the podium positions, the BYD Qin switched positions with its e6 older brother and reached the Third Position, while the Roewe e550 climbed one position to Fifth, with Kandi jumping two positions to #7.

Outside the Top 10, we can see the BAIC EU260 beat its own record, by selling 2.050 units, jumping four places to #13, something that was also replicated by the Zhidou EV city-car, that also jumped four positions to reach #15.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, BYD is the leader with 35% market share, but has lost 5% share in these last couple of months, as the market has been growing faster than the Xi�an-based company.

In Second Place we have BAIC (12%), followed by JAC (8%, down 1%) in Third and SAIC Roewe in Fourth, with 7% share.

Finally, looking at the breakdown between BEV�s and PHEV�s, unlike other markets where plug-in hybrids are winning the upper hand, here all-electric cars remain in command, with 67% share versus 33% for PHEV�s, which incidentally were the same percentages this market had by the end of 2015.

Pl	China	June	YTD	%
1	BYD Tang	3.519	19.134	15
2	BAIC E-Series EV	1.265	9.977	8
3	BYD Qin	2.751	9.404	8
4	BYD e6	1.647	9.226	7
5 6 7 8	SAIC Roewe e550 JAC I EV 4/5 Kandi EV JMC E100	2.329 1.349 4.670 1.500	8.711 7.862 7.797 6.027	7 6 6 5
9	Chery eQ	953	5.337	4
10	Zotye Cloud EV	1.812	4.113	3
11	Geely Dorsett EV	1.334	3.795	3
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	BYD e5 BAIC EU260 Changan Eado EV Zhidou EV Zotye E200 Tesla Model S JAC EV6S BYD Qin EV300 GAC Trumpchi GA5 R.	1.074 2.050 1.441 2.363 708 485 1.044 153	3.750 3.611 3.604 3.434 2.310 2.296 1.858 1.725 1.552	3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1
	TOTAL Market	34.612	123.828	100

Post also published on EV Obsession and CleanTechnica.

Automotive News China New EV Models - May 2016 - SIBEJO-

The number of models arriving to the local EV market is becoming increasingly larger and it is becoming common for one or two models to land every passing month, so we've created a new column called "New Models", where we look at the rookies.

Roewe e950 - The PHEV version of the 950 barge sedan, it aims to duplicate in XL format the success of its e550 smaller brother, which is now at over 2.000 units per month. With a 11.8 kWh battery and 60 kms electric range, this Tesla Model S-sized car is geared to become the best-selling plug-in of its class.

Sales target: 750-1.000 units/month.

Maxus EG10 - Looking to explore a niche that BYD is neglecting, SAIC launched this EG10 large electric MPV / Van, a market with no competition in sight (BYD production constraints are leaving its T3 Van dry). With a powerful 204 hp engine and 150 kms range, it does have interesting specs for hotel shuttles and other fleet uses, but the question is: How big is that market?

Sales target: 200 units/month.

Automotive News China May 2016 - SIBEJO-

Kandi K17 Cyclone: Future Best Seller?

BYD Qin is Back

The Chinese market had more than 26.000 EV's new EV's zooming the streets last month, a 119% increase over the same month last year, in-line with the annual growth rate, with the EV market share around 0.9%.

We will see now see May�s Top 5 Best Selling models individual performance:

#1 - BYD Tang: The 500 hp Chinese Cayennecontinues to rule the EV market, with 3.249 units, the SUV being the best-selling model for the fifth sixth consecutive time, but somehow we get the feeling that it could reach even higher sales levels if BYD wasn't production constrained...

#2 - BYD Qin: The most common plug-in in China, with over 50.000 units registered, the Qin has received recently a 100% electric version (207 units last month), but the model bread and butter is the 300 hp PHEV version, with 2.705 units. This sort-of BYD Corolla is experiencing a resurgence as of lately, growing for the fourth time in a row, will it reach its all-time record (4.030 units, July �15) soon?

#3 - Kandi Panda EV: One of the best-selling models of 2015, the city car has adapted to the new incentives rules and returned in April, with last month being already the Best Selling all-electric model and Third in the plug-in ranking, with 2.598 units, at this point Kandi seems to be the only automaker able to reach similar sales levels of BYD best-selling models. 

#4 - SAIC Roewe e550: Shangai-based SAIC has the expectation to replicate BYD Qin success with this one, the recently re-named e550, the plug-in hybrid version of its 550 ICE Best Seller. For the moment, it has no reason to complain, as it has beaten its monthly sales record last month, with 2.198 units, so it seems we will see it here frequently.

#5 - BAIC E-Series EV: Sales of BAIC's B-Classelectric hatch are a mish-mash of good and bad results: If on the one hand, YTD sales are up 102% YoY, on the other hand, comparing last month sales with that of May �15, numbers are up only 14%. Production constraints? I suspect it is so, now that the Beijing-based automaker is turning its attention to the larger (And more profitable) EU260 sedan.

Year-to -Date Ranking

If the podium positions have remained unchanged, we now have a new customer in the Fourth Position, with the BYD Qin retuning to its old form (2.912 units, best result since last August) and displacing the JAC I EV 4/5 to Fifth, while another model has made a thunderous comeback: The Kandi Panda EV jumped to #9, with a fourth BYD rounding up the Top 10, the e5 sedan rose to #10, thanks to a record performance of 1.172 units.

Outside the Top 10, we can see the Changan Eado EV (721 units) jump to #13, while on the other hand, the Tesla Model S dropped to #15, it looks like a rather discrete positioning for the imported car, until you realize that 96% of the Chinese EV Market belongs to domestic automakers, and of the remaining 4%, half of that belongs to Tesla, with the Second best-selling foreign automaker model being the locally-made Volvo S60L PHEV, in #25, with 394 units.

In #19 we see the return of the Zhidou EV, a tiny city-car that, like the Kandi model, has adapted to the new incentive rules (More range and power required) and is back at the market.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, BYD is a firm leader (37%, down 3%), followed in Second Place by BAIC (12%, down 1%) and JAC (9%, down 2%) in Third.

Pl	China	May	YTD	%
1	BYD Tang	3.249	15.615	18
2	BAIC E-Series EV	1.714	8.712	10
3	BYD e6	1.683	7.579	8
4	BYD Qin *	2.912	7.334	8
5 6 7 8	JAC I EV 4/5 SAIC Roewe e550 JMC E100 Chery eQ	1.076 2.198 1.300 1.269	6.513 6.382 4.527 4.384	7 7 5 5
9	Kandi K11 Panda EV	2.598	3.127	4
10	BYD e5	1.172	2.676	3
11	Geely Dorsett EV	1.000	2.461	3
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Zotye Cloud EV Changan Eado EV JAC i EV6S Tesla Model S e) Zotye E200 BAIC EU260 GAC Trumpchi GA5 R. Zhidou EV Venucia Morning Wind	406 721 554 300 853 769 570 1.071 274	2.301 2.163 1.858 1.811 1.602 1.561 1.399 1.071 1.052	3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1
	TOTAL	26.578	89.210	100

* - 2.705 PHEV + 207 BEV

e) Estimate

Post also published on EV Obsession and CleanTechnica.