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the mg showroom of fortune metropolis in hong kong

photographed by: zhai fangxue

31 electric vehicles from 9 domestic brands have accounted for 30% of the market share

text | zhai fangxue from hong kong

editor | wang jingyi

mg, xpeng, gac aion... more and more mainland new energy brands are pouring into hong kong.

on the one hand, car companies are attracted by the high demand in hong kong's electric vehicle market; on the other hand, they also use hong kong as a testing ground for entering the international market.

but everything is difficult at the beginning. tesla, which has been in this market for more than a decade, has taken up most of the electric vehicle market share. according to the hong kong electric vehicle database, the number of first-time registered electric private cars in hong kong from 2017 to 2023 is 62,458. tesla ranks first with 33,909 vehicles, surpassing other brands, accounting for 54.3%.

that is to say, for every two electric cars sold in hong kong, one is a tesla, a position that is difficult for new brands to surpass for the time being.

another reason for fierce competition is that hong kong is not a big market, with a total population of just over 7 million, and annual new car sales in the past five years have been only around 40,000.

according to statistics, there are currently 31 electric vehicle models from 9 domestic brands entering hong kong, including sedans, suvs and mpvs.

which one is the most popular among hong kong consumers? byd leads other brands with an absolute advantage in both cumulative sales and monthly sales, among which haibao and atto3 are the two most popular models; saic maxus ranks second with its outstanding performance in the mpv category.

from 2021 to 2023, the total registration volume of pure electric private cars in hong kong will increase from 24.2% to 66% of the private car (new car) market. the early bonus period of the electric vehicle market is passing, and the next step is a more difficult game.

byd and saic maxus ranked first and second respectively

according to media reports on august 17, the market share of mainland new energy vehicle brands in the hong kong special administrative region has increased significantly from 16% a year ago to 30%.

as of july 2024, the transport department of the hong kong special administrative region government has approved 31 electric vehicle models from nine mainland chinese automakers for sale in hong kong.

so which mainland brand is selling best in hong kong? we have compiled statistics based on the data from the hong kong electric vehicle database (note: smart, which is 50% owned by geely, is also counted as a mainland brand).

from january to july 2024, byd ranked first among mainland brands in hong kong's electric private car sales, with cumulative sales of 4,200 units, more than three times that of the second-ranked saic maxus.

data source: hong kong electric vehicle database

chart maker: zhai fangxue

byd has been operating in hong kong for more than two years and is one of the earliest car companies in the mainland. with its extremely high cost-effectiveness and superior after-sales service, byd's sales in the first seven months of 2024 (4,200 units) have squeezed out bmw (2,788 units) and become the second in the hong kong electric vehicle market.

byd's growth is very rapid. in the 2023 hong kong electric private car total sales list, byd (3,720 units) ranked third, behind tesla (9,639 units) and bmw (4,981 units); however, in the first seven months of 2024, byd's sales were already 50% higher than bmw.

as the second on the mainland brand list, saic maxus is known as "hong kong people's favorite mpv brand."

in 2024, saic maxus's cumulative sales as of july were 1,272 units, and its model mifa9 premium ranked fourth in the cumulative sales of mainland models this year with 697 units.

mpvs are particularly popular in hong kong. hong kong consumers tend to be pragmatic. as the cost of maintaining a car is huge, they hope to achieve multiple uses for one car. mpvs that can carry couples, children, parents and filipino maids at the same time have become a popular option in the local area.

in the past, the best-selling mpvs in hong kong were toyota alphard, vellfire, and japanese brands such as honda and nissan. after saic maxus' mpv series entered hong kong, it quickly topped the market with its pure electric advantages and strong product strength. last year, mifa9 was launched in hong kong for less than three months, and its sales exceeded 500 units, breaking the monopoly of japanese mpvs, and its total sales ranked first among single models in the hong kong mpv market.

judging from the cumulative list above, the top four (byd, saic maxus, smart and mg) seem to have a crushing momentum on the brands ranked lower, especially byd, whose sales volume is far behind those of the latter few, and is even more than ten times that of the fifth-ranked volvo.

but there is a problem that some of these brands only entered hong kong in 2024. for example, gac aion’s showroom was only officially opened at the end of january, and the cumulative list cannot reflect the complete level.

therefore, we compiled the sales chart for july and found that the rankings have indeed changed significantly.

data source: hong kong electric vehicle database

chart maker: zhai fangxue

in july, byd and saic maxus remained the champion and runner-up, but mg surpassed smart and became the third place, gac aion jumped from 8th to 5th, and nezha auto rose from 10th to 7th.

in may 2024, mg opened its second showroom in hong kong in kowloon bay and announced that it would focus on strengthening after-sales services, including expanding the mg brand super 5s center in kam tin, yuen long, and opening a third repair center in kowloon;

in terms of car models, byd and saic maxus have three models respectively in the top ten, and mg has two models on the list.

byd's haibao and atto3 are the most popular mainland new energy models among hong kong consumers, followed by saic maxus's mifa7 premium. in addition, smart elf #1 brabus and gac aion y plus are also on the list.

data source: hong kong electric vehicle database

chart maker: zhai fangxue

mainland automakers flock to hong kong

more and more mainland new energy vehicle companies are entering hong kong.

just talking about 2024, in january, aion's first store in kowloon bay, hong kong officially opened. in less than half a year, aion's brand store in wan chai, hong kong was also put into operation; in march, nezha auto signed a contract with the hong kong special administrative region government to become a key corporate partner of the government. the hong kong government will provide nezha auto with a subsidy of hk$200 million and assist in a cornerstone round investment of us$200 million; in april, xpeng motors announced a partnership with sime darby auto group and officially entered the hong kong market...

in order to have a clearer understanding of the current layout of various car companies in hong kong, we searched the number of showrooms (display and sales functions) of each brand on google maps and made an incomplete statistics.

the map shows that the number of showrooms of mainland new energy brands in hong kong can be divided into three tiers: byd is in the first tier with 7 showrooms; saic maxus, mg, zeekr and others are in the second tier; nezha auto and volvo are in the third tier.

but it should be noted that not all brands use the "showroom" format to sell cars. for example, xiaopeng's sales store is shown as "xpeng" on the map, and polestar's sales store is named "polestar space".

data source: hong kong electric vehicle database

chart maker: zhai fangxue

according to media reports, in addition to car companies that already have sales networks and specific product sales in hong kong, baic new energy, nio, li auto, wuling motors, etc. have also revealed their intention to enter the hong kong market.

fu bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary general of the china association of automobile manufacturers, predicts that more mainland chinese automobile brands will enter the hong kong market in the future and use it as an important gateway to expand into the global market.

what can hong kong offer to mainland automakers?

on august 23, byd asia pacific general manager liu xueliang said in an interview with the media that hong kong is one of the fastest-growing, largest and best markets for electric vehicles in the world.

the penetration rate of electric vehicles in hong kong is already very high. according to data from the hong kong transport department, the number of first-time registrations of private cars in hong kong in the first half of 2024 was 26,632, of which 20,052 were electric vehicles, accounting for about 75.3%.

"backed by the motherland and facing the world" is another major advantage of hong kong. its unique geographical location and international economic characteristics make hong kong a touchstone and transit station for mainland enterprises to go global.

the guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area has carried out "linking" in the development of the new energy vehicle industry and continued to make efforts in the construction and sharing of charging and other infrastructure.

the mg showroom of fortune metropolis in hong kong

photographed by: zhai fangxue

for example, in september 2023, the shenzhen municipal development and reform commission issued the "several measures of shenzhen to promote consumption", which mentioned accelerating the construction of a "supercharging city". it will facilitate the charging and battery replacement services of electric vehicles with hong kong license plates and shenzhen and hong kong dual license plates in shenzhen, and promote the installation of charging converters in charging facilities in areas where hong kong residents consume in large numbers.

in terms of facing the world, hong kong can gather global talents. for example, nezha automobile established a research and development center in hong kong, which will gather the world's top research and development talents and focus on the core technologies of new energy vehicles, including but not limited to intelligent driving for the global market, full natural language multi-language voice interaction, etc.

however, some industry insiders worry that the influx of mainland automakers will bring the "price war" to hong kong.

wu wenqiang, ceo of the hong kong automobile association of china, pointed out: "this year alone, there will be six or seven new (mainland) electric vehicle brands (joining). with such an increase, consumers have more choices. in addition, the government's 'one-for-one' policy has been adjusted, and the market has also slowed down a bit. under multiple factors, the balance between supply and demand will be problematic, and this problem will affect prices."

(the author of this article is a special contributor to caijing)