Volkswagen ruled the Chinese passenger car market for the better part of two decades. From the early 2000s through 2022, the VW name plate (across SAIC-VW and FAW-VW joint ventures) was the country's #1-selling brand. In 2023 that streak ended. BYD took the #1 spot with around 3.0 million passenger car sales versus VW's 2.4M - and in 2024 the gap widened to over 1.3M units.
The Inflection Point: 2021
BYD's volume was 730,000 in 2021. Then a perfect storm: the launch of the Blade Battery, aggressive vertical integration of cell, motor and IGBT manufacturing, and a model lineup that was almost entirely PHEV/BEV by 2022. BYD essentially exited the pure ICE business in March 2022, the only major automaker in the world to do so.
Three Models Did Most of the Work
The Song Plus DM-i (PHEV SUV), the Qin Plus DM-i (PHEV sedan), and the Seagull (entry-level BEV hatchback) each cleared 300,000 units in 2024. The Song Plus alone outsold the entire Volkswagen Lavida nameplate - for years VW's best-selling model in China.
Why VW Couldn't Respond
Volkswagen's joint-venture structure makes pivoting hard. The MEB platform debuted in China in 2021 with the ID.3, ID.4 and ID.6 - competent cars but priced 30-40% higher than BYD equivalents with similar range. The ID series sold around 130,000 units in 2024 combined, less than 1/10th of BYD's NEV volume.
Where It Goes From Here
BYD's 2025 target is over 5 million global units (4M+ China, ~1M export). Volkswagen has announced it is partnering with XPeng on the next generation of MEB cars and accelerating local R&D. The relative trajectories suggest the gap will widen further before it narrows.
Watch the brand-share shift year-by-year on the China brand throne dashboard.