- In sales-service satisfaction, BYD’s Denza and Tesla lead among new EV brands, while Chery New Energy, Roewe and Tank perform strongly among traditional brands.
- In after-sales satisfaction, Tesla, ORA, NIO and BYD rank highest across different categories.
On December 3, the China Association for Quality (CAQ) released China’s 2025 New Energy Vehicle Customer Satisfaction Index (NEV-CACSI).
The industry’s overall score reached 80, up one point year on year, with both battery-electric and hybrid models also scoring 80.
This year’s improvement was driven primarily by gains in perceived quality and perceived value.
Perceived quality rose to 80.6, up 1.2 points from last year, while perceived value climbed to 79.7, a 1.5-point increase—both outpacing the overall satisfaction gain.
Chinese brands continued to consolidate their competitive edge in the NEV segment. While both Chinese and joint-venture (JV) brands scored 80 in user satisfaction for NEVs, Chinese brands still trailed by one point in the internal combustion engine (ICE) segment.
Performance gaps were more pronounced in NEVs. Chinese brands reported significantly fewer problems per 100 vehicles than JV brands, with an especially wide 16-issue gap in intelligent cockpit systems.
Sales-service experiences also favored Chinese brands, outperforming by one point and better aligning with current expectations in browsing, test drives and delivery.
Product fundamentals continued to improve. Quality reliability satisfaction reached 80.8, up 0.7 points year on year, while performance and design rose to 81.1, up 0.5 points.
Still, the industry faces rising issue concentration. Problems per 100 vehicles increased to 109, up 18 from last year, with 60% of issues concentrated in intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving and interior systems.
Compared with ICEs, NEVs retain a clear advantage in smart features, but their users show lower tolerance for malfunctions.
For faults in smart functions, NEV buyers demonstrated tolerance levels 9 and 22 percentage points lower than ICE owners, highlighting the growing importance of intelligent experience in purchase decisions.
Service performance diverged. Sales-service satisfaction remained at 81, while after-sales satisfaction fell to 79, weighed down by maintenance and repair experience, facility adequacy and efficiency.
As the NEV population expands rapidly, pressure on after-sales networks is becoming more apparent.
At the brand level, BYD’s Denza and Tesla led new EV brands in sales-service satisfaction, while Chery New Energy, SAIC’s Roewe and GWM’s Tank ranked highest among traditional brands.
For after-sales satisfaction, Tesla, GWM-backed ORA, NIO and BYD topped their respective categories.
This year’s evaluation covered 162 mainstream NEV models from 40 automakers and 55 brands nationwide, collecting 25,303 valid samples.
Across segments, leading models included the Xpeng MONA M03, BYD Seal, BMW Brilliance i5, Xiaomi SU7, Tesla Model 3, NIO EC6, Li Auto L7 and AITO M9, each ranking first or tied for first in their respective categories.
Overall, this year’s results point to increasing diversification in consumer preferences.
Quality reliability, performance and comfort have become more influential, while attributes such as exterior styling and maintenance costs carry less weight than in previous years.
CAQ noted that the overall improvement reflects the industry’s long-running shift toward user-centric strategies, but emphasized that the concentration of faults in intelligent systems requires continued attention from automakers.
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