BYD takes 23.3% of China's NEV market in August as Tesla rejoins the top 10

BYD stayed on top of China's new energy vehicle retail chart in August, moving 233,943 passenger NEVs for a 23.3% share, according to CPCA data. That was down 24.6% from a year earlier but up 4.7% versus July, and still more than double the share of runner-up Geely, which delivered 110,560 units for 11.0%.

Leapmotor held third with 84,874 units, its 65.9% annual gain the steepest in the leaderboard. Tesla re-entered the ranking in sixth at 50,047 units after dropping out of the top 10 in July — its 83.7% month-on-month jump was the biggest sequential rise, though sales were still 12.4% below last year's level. Li Auto also clawed back into the list in ninth, HIMA slid to eighth, and SAIC Passenger Vehicle and Xiaomi Auto fell off the chart.

Over the first eight months, BYD led the NEV market with 1,448,283 units and a 21.7% cumulative share despite a 34% annual drop, while Nio posted the fastest year-to-date growth at 57.8%. In the broader passenger car market that includes combustion models, BYD topped both August (15.2% share) and the year-to-date chart (12.4%), widening its cumulative lead over Geely to 95,709 units. Joint ventures kept losing ground, with FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-Volkswagen down 35.8% and 42.7% year-on-year in August.