KG Mobility Global Model Sales : 2025 (Jan-Aug)

KGM (SsangYong) is a small fish and needs to grow to survive. It cannot sustain itself with current volume and that is understood. The KG Group took ownership in 2022 and has ambitions to succeed when numerous previous owners have failed. It has formed a strategic partnership with Chery Automobile to assist in achieving its aim. 

The Torres mid sized SUV is the leading model, with the Musso pick up (picture above) is the next most sought after. The compact Tivoli SUV is third and is followed by the large Rexton SUV (which has the same platform as the Musso). 

Finally the slightly more premium Acyton mid sized SUV (picture below the chart) which is the same length as the Torres. The Korando SUV is last and is similarly sized to the Torres but slightly smaller. 

The range is basically SUVs and they also sell in similar numbers too, the Torres being the exception. The whole range is not that far spaced apart in terms of length. 

Selling cars in Korea is currently not that successful for KGM. Less than 2,200 units per month at home this year isn't great. At least exports are doing better and maybe that is the priority. The 62.6% for exported vehicles is the highest since 2011. 

Leapmotor Global Sales : 2019-2025 (H1)

Zhejiang Leapmotor started delivering its first electric car (BEV) in mid 2019. This progressed steadily with sales confined to China. However, things are starting to accelerate in China. Also in late 2023, the Stellantis car company bought a share of Leapmotor and will assist in the expansion of the brand globally. That is starting to happen now. 

To the right is a chart of deliveries initially by years, but then by both quarters and years. Virtually all of what is there reflects domestic deliveries. 

The first model was the S01, a reasonably stylish coupe. Numbers were limited and it was soon discontinued. 

The following year the T03 became the next model, a tiny electric city car. It was also manufactured in a Stellantis plant in Poland from mid 2024 but that ceased in early 2025. I would imagine the volume was limited. 

The C11 medium sized crossover was released in 2021 as either a BEV or with a range extender engine (EREV) and in 2022 the BEV C1 executive saloon car was released.

Late 2023 arrived with the C10 midsized wagonlike EREV crossover and in early 2024 a large version of the former named the C16. In early 2025 a compact BEV (B10) was introduced. 

This flurry of models is going to keep driving deliveries upward. The tie up with Stellantis will be an important part of the export drive.

Data source: Leapmotor. Picture source: Leapmotor NZ.

Vinfast Sales : 2025 Q1

Vinfast isn't quick in reporting sales figures. The Q1 result was 36,330 units deliveries, which was up an impressive 296%. That was below the 2024 Q4 figure but volumes go up through the year, although how that will pan out for the rest of 2025 we will have to wait and see. 

Vinfast lost $712.4 million in Q1 2025. Dividing that figure by sales brings it to -$19,600 per unit. 

It is backed by Vingroup, which gives Vinfast the ability to continue even in the loss making situation it currently sits in. Obviously it needs to remedy this as soon as possible. 

At present there are six models in the range which collectively need to be selling in much larger numbers. 

Most sales are domestic although the company doesn't seem to release global regional data.

The range kicks off with the VF 3 (photo above - tiny SUV) which starting reaching customers in the second half of 2024. 

The VF 5 city car (photo left) came out in 2023. It was initially known as the VF e32. 

The VF 6 also was released in 2024. It's a small crossover SUV being just over 4.2 metres in length or 167 inches. 

The VF 7 (picture below) was another car released in early 2024. It's a compact crossover which in my eyes has a wagon look about it. The red car (second from top) is the VF 8 medium large crossover SUV and the first deliveries commenced in late 2022. Lastly, at the top of the page is the VF 9 large crossover SUV. Deliveries were from early 2022.

As the Vietnamese market isn't large enough to support the brand, exports are essential. I would imagine the company would like that to progress more quickly than it is but reputations take time to be established. Some customers have complained about quality issues while others seem happy with their purchase. 

The US was seen as an important market to enter but that could be problematic with recent tariffs potentially limiting that opportunity. Overall, it comes across to me as a company in too much of a hurry...unless it's sales figures.  

Xiaomi Deliveries : 2024-25 (H1)

Xiaomi make all sorts of things and in the second quarter of 2024 started delivering cars. It was a large four door fastback named the SU7 (photo above). The SU stands for Speed Ultra and looks like it was heavily influenced by Tesla. Mind you, that could be said of many Chinese cars of this ilk 

Deliveries started in Q2 2004, with the company giving definite figures for the first two months, then a general number for the third month. So by using that information, I came up with 25,700 units delivered. Then based on the Q4 and full year figures provided by Xiaomi, I came up with the Q3 number of 41,457. Elementary, my dear Watson. Why make it so hard?

In 2025, 75,869 units found owners in Q1 and Q2 is based on monthly rounded figures. Xiaomi goes from definite to indefinite figures in what seems a random manner. Anyway, the 2025 figure of 157,000 deliveries is already 15% up on the three quarters of 2024. 

So where will 2025 end up? With the imminent arrival of the YU7 SUV (photo below), deliveries for the year are expected to be 380,000 plus. That would be divided as 280,000 and 100,000 for the SU7 and YU7 respectively. 

For now, the emphasis has been on the Chinese market but exporting will surely follow sooner rather than later. In Q1 2025, the company has reportedly lost US$900 on each car delivered. That isn't a surprise for a new venture though. Starting out in the car industry is an especially expensive exercise. 

Data & picture source: Xiaomi.

Nio Global Sales : 2025 (H1)

The company started selling its first road car in 2018, having made a handful of track sports cars beforehand. It was soon struggling financially but with the help of funding it survived that. It's known for battery swap stations which overcomes wait times for recharging. 

Nio is a premium electric car marque in the mould of Tesla. During 2024 it added a mainstream electric brand ONVO which stands for On Voyage. Now the Firefly sub brand has arrived to challenge the Smart brand and even MINI although I'm not sure it is quite at that level.

In 2023, the Nio company sold 160,000 cars and 222,000 a year later. In the first half of 2025, 114000 Nio, ONVO and Firefly cars were delivered, up 40% for Q1 and up 26% in Q2.  

In the chart below we can see Nio remains the best selling brand with 74,000 units, ONVO 32,000 and Firefly 8,000. ONVO has experienced headwinds and hasn't been as well received as hoped. The company is still confident things will improve as it addresses problems the brand has faced.  

Data & photo source: Nio.

The top photo is of the Nio ES8 SUV, the middle snap is of the Firefly and the picture below is the ONVO L60 coupe SUV which is the only current model for the latter. The full sized ONVO L90 SUV is however coming. 

Xpeng Deliveries/Production : 2023 - 25 (H1)

2023 started slowly, with sales down on 2022 but the G6 medium large crossover and the X9 large MPV (photo above) arrived. By the end of the year, deliveries were up 17%. 

The new models helped achieve a 171% increase for Q4 which ensured the year ended positively.

For 2024 deliveries were up 34% with a very healthy Q4 to thank for that. The P5 medium saloon car ended its run and was replaced by the Mona M03. 

Then the 2024 P7+ large saloon was introduced but didn't replace the existing P7. The Plus is less expensive but slightly larger than the P7 and will sell along side each other. The G9 medium large crossover has recently been refreshed which is a Tesla Y competitor (see image below). 

Deliveries for 2025 have already passed the full 2024 total. Q1 and Q2 2025 were up 331% and 242% respectively on the comparable quarter a year before. They were however only slightly up on the Q4 2024 figure which may indicate growth has now to a degree leveled off. 

For the years 2019-2022, simply click here.

BYD Passenger Car Deliveries : 2025 (H1)

I've been waiting for BYD to hit a ceiling but I'll have to wait a little longer. Deliveries of electric cars (BEVs) was up 39% and 42% in the first two quarters of 2025. With Tesla's slipping 13% downward, BYD has managed to go the other way and dramatically so. 

Adding hybrid sales, over a million units per quarter was achieved. That was up 58% and 15% for the first two quarters! At a time when many manufacturers would be content with maintaining volume, BYD is aggressively pushing forward. 

It will be interesting to see whether this growth will continue through the year. The second quarter growth would suggest things are indeed plateauing off. Hybrid vehicles are not performing as well as BEVs in 2025. YTD they are up 24% while BEV deliveries have increased 41%.

Not shown in the data below are commercial vehicles which made up just 0.5% of total volume in 2024. So far this year that has increased to 1.5%, with 32,683 units delivered and YTD growth of 460%. 

Data & picture source: BYD

BYD's Miracle

BYD has been around for a while with reasonable success but its sales have recently surged. Most of its deliveries are in China but is aiming for half its sales to come from outside of China by 2030. Considering it sold 4 million cars in China in 2024 and may increase this figure by 2030, that is a challenging target. It's in a hurry.

I wrote about recent sales for 2023-24 and Q1 2025 which can be seen by clicking on the dates. I was impressed about the progress BYD was making. 

A leaked e-mail in late 2024 showed BYD asked suppliers for a 10% reduction in prices which sounded arbitrary to say the least. Once prices are negotiated, they should be honoured until the next round of negotiations. BYD responded at the time by saying the price cut wasn't mandatory. Still, it set off an alarm bell for me.

Now comes confirmation of something far darker. BYD decided to build its first plant outside of China in Brazil. However, work was stopped there late last year. Now The Public Labour Prosecutor's Office in the state of Bahia says 220 Chinese workers were rescued and is suing BYD and two of its contractors. Why? They said the standard of accommodation, work hours and some issues around workers rights were unacceptable. 

One would like to think this was an exception but we don't know. I mentioned earlier that the company seems in a hurry. That always concerns me as a hasty desire for success should never be at the expense of human rights. I know that sounds idealistic in this world where abuses in this regard are not uncommon. But having a major work construction closed down is serious and hopefully lessons are being learned. 

Whoever is responsible for this situation will be held accountable and I don't know who knew what. But either way BYD is ultimately responsible as they must make sure nothing like this happens in any of their operations. Would I buy a BYD? Not for now at least. They need to make sure they are building dreams responsibly.

Photo source: BYD NZ.

Xpeng : 2019 - 2022

Xpeng or Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Company is an electric car company. It introduced its first vehicle, the small G3 SUV (picture above) in December 2018 and 29 were delivered that year. 

In 2019, 12,728 cars were sold, for me with volume uncertainty for the first half of the year. I put in numbers of a similar amount to arrive at the correct total. The year itself was a time of settling, averaging just over 3,000 deliveries. 

2020 started in a similar vein to 2019 but the arrival of the P7 large saloon car gave things a boost and for Q4, deliveries exceeded the entire previous year albeit from a low volume. 

2021 followed the 2020 template with the P5 medium saloon car being introduced and having the same effect as the previous year. Deliveries soared 263% to 98,000.  

In 2022 the G9 medium large crossover came along but deliveries reduced as the the year progressed. Covid was surely the culprit although by the end of the year, nearly 121,000 units were sold. 

Part two (2023-25) will reveal how things progressed. Just click here to find out.

Data & photograph source: Xpeng. 

Subaru / Genesis US Model Sales : 2023/24

Here we have two marques from Asia. Let's look at their place in the USA.

Subaru: Subaru relies on a handful of markets for most of its volume and does well in them, the US being the most important one of them.  

The brand is so successful in the US it's hard to imagine the brand exisiting without that success. 

Sales were up 6% YTD so a sound result. The Crosstrek and Forester are the main models with 54% of the total between then. The outback did OK but after that some reductions in sales.

Subaru has an outdoors, adventure image and that is what drives its success. The 668,000 sales gained in the US is enormous for what could be described as a niche brand. 

Genesis: It is a recent addition to the premium ranks and for now at least dependant on its protected home market. The US will be a target export market it will want to succeed in. 

Arriving in the USA in 2016, sales were at first up and down but for the two previous years there has been a strong increase. That has slowed in 2024 with no new models added. 

Volume was up 8% with the GV80 up 16% and the G80 down 22% (G is for sedan and GV SUV). 

Genesis is still a small player in the premium arena but it's early days. Conquest sales are a challenge in the premium segment. 

Data & pictures: Volvo & Genesis. V60 above & the GV70 below.

Nio Global Sales : 2024

Nio has aimed its products at the premium end of the electric car market. The figures below show that 221,970 cars were sold in 2024. Q1 seemed to indicate a slight slowing of deliveries which wasn't surprising when compared to other marques. However, it took a turn for the better in Q2 which was in contrast to the equivalent quarter of 2023. Q3 has pulled back to a more modest 12% rise and Q4 was up 45%.

Nio hasn't rushed its expansion into new markets like some Chinese brands. From what I can gather, its sales and service networks are currently Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. That's not a bad thing as being impatient can be counterproductive. New markets will no doubt follow. 

Included in the Nio figures is the new ONVO brand. For December 20,600 Nio and 10,500 ONVO vehicles were delivered, included in the Q4 figure.

Right hand drive is coming so 2025 seems to be the year that area of the global market will be addressed. 

A breakdown by model sales for 2023 can be seen to the left. Crossover, SUV and passenger car are the three categories. I would have liked 2024 figures but hopefully that can be added later.

Data & picture source: Nio. The ET9 is above and the ES7 is below. 

Proton Model Sales : 2024

Proton is a brand with a long history in Malaysia, going back to mid 1980's and producing rebadged Mitsubishi cars. It has moved on to produce its own cars as well as some rebadged ones. It currently exports to Asian and African markets. 

From 1996 to 2017, it was the owner of Lotus cars which helped improve among other things the handling characteristics of Proton cars. It recently celebrated the making of 5 million vehicles. Geely is now a shareholder of Proton. The figures below compare a complete 2023 with nine months of 2024.

For 2024 sales were down 1.5% so nothing to speak of. Deliveries had been growing nicely over the last few years but plateaued this year. With most sales coming from the home market, how that fares is very important but it's not easy to get domestic sales data. So unless more is known about the Malaysian market, it's hard to come to any conclusion. 

There are eight models listed the the right although the Exora is no more. The small Saga saloon car has been around since 1985 and is currently in its third generation. The first edition was a rebadged Mitsubishi.

The S70 (since 2023) is a saloon car too but medium sized and based on a Geely vehicle. The X50 compact crossover (2020) is also a Geely product. 

The Persona compact car (2003) is in its third generation and for the first generation was named the Wira in its home market. The rest of the range is of limited volume. 

The pictures are from Proton and as with many Asian car companies cameras are not used but rather computers and the result is in my opinion tacky. I assume the locals like it that way. 

The top impression is of the S70 and the lower one the X50.

KG Mobility Global Sales : 2024

KG Mobility or Ssangyong as it was formally known delivered 109,424 vehicles in 2024. That's 5.7% down on the corresponding period of 2023. Things showed signs of picking up late in the year. The company gained a new owner in 2022, the KG Group so what the direction is from here will be interesting.

There have been some issues with the new name as other entities have objected to its use, being an acronym the same as or close to ones already in use. Maybe Ssangyong will have to be reintroduced.

The model names used for various cars is confusing, the same name being partly used with other models over its history. The Torres (introduced in 2022) is the top selling model for the second consecutive year despite sales being down 20%. 

Rexton Sport pick up is next, followed by the Tivoli small SUV. It came in two wheelbase lengths but the longer version was phased out this year. The Rexton SUV lost some ground and now accounts for just 8.4% of total sales. The new Actyon SUV has arrived (picture below) and hopefully will add impetus to deliveries. 

There was a move to electrify two models but not shown separately here. The Korando EV was introduced in 2021 but after little success was dropped in 2023. The Torres EV came along in late 2023 and for this year made up an impressive 41% of the model's deliveries. 

Regionally, KGM only differentiates between domestic and export deliveries. In 2024, exports grew 18% to 57% of all sales, impressive as they were just 18% of the total in 2020. Domestic deliveries dropped 25.7% to 43%.

Data and pictures : KGM. Updated 11/03/2025.

BYD Global Sales : 2023 - 24

BYD or Build Your Dreams has certainly been doing that. It pulled out of selling oil fueled cars at the beginning of 2022 which gave impetus to its electric and hybrid sales. The level of increase since is hard to comprehend but this is what happened.  

In 2021 BEV and PHEV sales were 594,000 and oil fueled 136,000. For 2022 the former were up to 1.8 million, an astonishing 213% increase. 2023 and the total was 3 million, up 62%. The pace of increase understandably slowed in 2024 yet growth was still strong with a 41% increase to 4.25 million units.

Below is shown BEV sales to the left and then combined with HEV to the right. I did it that way so that BEV sales could be compared with the likes of Tesla, a full BEV manufacturer. 

One difference in recent years is that while Tesla's volume increases modestly through the calendar year, BYD's increases are striking. To show this, BYD delivered 70,000 fewer cars in Q1 but 100,000 more electric cars in Q4 than Tesla. So with that late spurt they must have passed Tesla then?

It seemed inevitable but Tesla delivered nearly 1.789 million BEVs to BYD's 1,764 million so Tesla was marginally the winner. Despite the usual late run of BYD deliveries, it still wasn't quite enough to take over as the largest BEV manufacturer. Does that matter? Bragging rights I suppose. 

One point of interest regarding BYD is that BEV sales have been passed by HEV sales in 2024 and by some margin. BEV volume is up just 12% but combined with HEVs, volume is then up 41%. That is a global trend so not surprising but shows the benefit of not having all the eggs in the electric car basket. 

Data source: BYD.

Vinfast Deliveries : H1 2023-24

Vinfast is a Vietnamese car company that started out in 2022. Some of its earlier forecasts proved optimistic as is usually the case with newbies. The car industry is complex and starting up is fraught with difficulties, including initial questions raised over assembly quality and software glitches. 

The chart to the right shows 2024 as being down 38% but that compares half of 2024 with a completed 2023. It's actually up 92% comparing H1 periods. 

The full 2024 target is 80,000 units, or an increase of 130% which on the face of it is a sizable jump on first half deliveries of 21,747. How can they reach that? The new VF3 (picture below) is about to be released and has a large domestic order bank to deal with so I assume that's where much of the increase will come from. 

A plant to be built in the US has been scaled back timewise to manage the planned growth in a more measured way. A case of not so fast Vinfast and this is the best policy as reputation is so important. 

Data and picture source: Vinfast.