Sales of plug-in electric cars in China were growing fast, even when the overall automotive market was shrinking. However, since summer, plug-ins are now falling even quicker than the overall market.

EV Sales Blog reports 76,676 sales in September (down 27% year-over-year) at 4% market share. Total passenger car sales decreased by 6%, which shows how bad the situation is.

The drop was caused by the changes in the policy, applied on June 26:

No more subsidies for New Energy Vehicles with a range below 250 km (155 miles) NEDC

halved subsidies for higher range models

Both categories are decreasing - BEVs by 20% and PHEVs by 45%.

After nine months of 2019, sales stand at almost 872,000 and an average 5.7% market share.

Plug-in electric car sales in China – September 2019

Model rank

September brings a surprise Top 5 without a single model from BYD, but there is the Tesla Model 3 (estimated) and BMW 530Le plug-in hybrid. Moreover, the new GAC Aion S did well:

BAIC EU-Series - 8,710

Baojun E-Series – 5,353



Tesla Model 3 - 4,200

- GAC Aion S - 4,006

- BMW 530Le plug-in hybrid - 3,486

A noteworthy result is 2,236 sales of SOL E20X (a new brand and model launched by JAC Volkswagen - JV between Volkswagen and Jianghuai Automobile Group).

Here is the Top 30 for September (official numbers only, so no Tesla included):

Here, on the other hand, we can take a look at the Top 20 for the year:

Source: EV Sales Blog