In January 2026, China’s passenger vehicle market saw a notable slowdown, with total retail sales reaching 1.544 million units—a 13.9% decline year-on-year and nearly a third below December’s figure. Domestic automaker Geely led the market, registering retail sales of 210,000 vehicles (down 12.6% year-on-year) and wholesale deliveries of 270,000 units (up 1.3%). These figures placed Geely ahead of longstanding rival BYD in both retail and wholesale segments.
In the retail rankings, the top ten automakers for January were:
- Geely: 210,000 units, –12.6% YoY
- FAW-Volkswagen: 132,000 units, –3.5% YoY
- BYD: 94,000 units, –53.0% YoY
- SAIC-Volkswagen: 90,000 units, –9.3% YoY
- Changan: 81,000 units, –33.5% YoY
- Chery: 78,000 units, –41.0% YoY
- FAW-Toyota: 65,000 units, +8.3% YoY
- GAC-Toyota: 64,000 units, +0.3% YoY
- HIMA (Huawei’s new energy vehicle startup): 58,000 units, +65.5% YoY
- BMW Brilliance: 51,000 units, –3.9% YoY
Huawei’s HIMA brand made its first entry into the top 10 after posting a year-on-year retail increase of 65.5%. In contrast, BYD’s retail volume tumbled from roughly 200,000 units in January 2025 to 94,000 units this year.
Wholesale data for the leading automakers showed a combined total of 1.168 million units, representing nearly 60% of all wholesale shipments. The top ten in wholesale volume were:
- Geely: 270,000 units, +1.3% YoY
- BYD: 206,000 units, –30.7% YoY
- Chery: 194,000 units, –12.0% YoY
- FAW-Volkswagen: 128,000 units, –1.7% YoY
- SAIC Group (including MG): 77,000 units, +53.6% YoY
- Great Wall Motor: 75,000 units, +9.3% YoY
- Tesla China: 69,000 units, +9.3% YoY
- Changan: 68,000 units, –64.6% YoY
- SAIC-Volkswagen: 68,000 units, –9.0% YoY
- GAC-Toyota: 63,000 units, +9.8% YoY
SAIC’s strong wholesale performance was driven largely by MG’s overseas shipments, while Tesla China continued to rely on exports from its Shanghai Gigafactory. Geely plans to introduce one to two new models each quarter in 2026, aiming for annual sales of 3.45 million vehicles.
Source: CarNewsChina
