China’s NEV Penetration Rate Reaches 53.7% in July; BYD Leads with Over 270,000 Retail Sales

China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) retail penetration rate rose to 53.7% in July.

On August 11, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) released the “July 2025 Auto Manufacturer Sales Ranking” report.

Data shows that retail sales of domestic narrow passenger vehicles reached 1.837 million units in July 2025, a 6.9% year-on-year increase but an 11.9% decline month-on-month. From January to July, cumulative sales hit 12.74 million units, up 10.2%. Among these, pure electric vehicle sales reached 986,000 units in July, increasing 12% year-on-year; cumulative sales from January to July totaled 6.455 million units, up 29.5%.

Meanwhile, retail, export, wholesale, and production volumes for passenger car manufacturers all hit historical highs for the month of July. Supported by policies such as vehicle scrappage and replacement, trade-in incentives, and exemption of purchase tax for NEVs, the market shows steady growth with domestic NEV retail penetration climbing to 53.7%.

In the NEV manufacturer sales ranking, BYD retained the top position with retail sales of 275,000 units, though down 11.9% year-on-year.

Geely ranked second with retail sales of 121,000 units, soaring 112.1% year-on-year, becoming the fastest-growing mainstream automaker, second only to XPeng’s 34,000 units retail sales which surged 263% year-on-year.

Overall, traditional automakers are accelerating their transformation. Changan Automobile ranked third with 55,700 units, while Chery ranked ninth with 39,000 units.

A stark contrast is seen in the strong rise of new energy brands: Huawei’s Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) achieved 43,000 units, ranking fifth with a 7.5% year-on-year increase; following closely is Leapmotor with 46,000 units, ranking sixth with a 106.1% year-on-year growth.

In wholesale sales, BYD remains dominant with 341,000 units, up just 0.1% year-on-year.

Looking at overall rankings, only Leapmotor and XPeng from the new forces entered the top ten in July, with sales of 50,129 and 36,717 units respectively. The biggest change is that Li Auto, which ranked tenth in wholesale sales in June, dropped out of the list this month.

With NEV penetration reaching 54%, the market is clearly shifting towards dominance by NEVs. Despite BYD’s retail sales facing a downward trend, it maintains the top spot by a large margin. Challengers come from traditional automakers like Geely and Changan, and new forces such as Leapmotor and XPeng.

As price wars in the auto market wind down, competition in the second half of the year is expected to focus more on technology upgrades and overseas market expansion.