Electrified pickup sales continue to surge

Wholesale deliveries of electrified pickups surged again in May, soaring 503 percent to roughly 8,000, the China Passenger Car Association said.

Electrified pickups accounted for 15 percent of overall pickup shipments industrywide in May, according to the trade group’s tally released July 1.

The top three electrified pickup makers in May were BYD Co., with sales of 45,721; Geely Holding Group, with deliveries of 1,567; and Changan Automobile Co., with sales of 799.

Geely is the first Chinese automaker to produce electrified pickups — it launched sales of a Radar-badged battery electric pickup in 2022. The company also now markets plug-in hybrid pickups under the Radar brand.

A slew of other Chinese automakers have followed with electrified pickups in the past two years.

BYD, China’s largest electrified-vehicle maker, has only one pickup model — the Shark, a compact plug-in hybrid.

The Shark debuted globally in Mexico in May 2024 and is exported to Australia and multiple countries in Central America and South America. BYD hasn’t started selling the Shark in China.

Changan builds range-extended and gasoline pickup models.

Backed by increasing sales of electrified pickups, BYD, Changan and Geely Radar ranked third, fifth and tenth, respectively, on the trade group’s list of China’s top 10 pickup manufacturers in May.

Great Wall Motor Co. remained China’s largest pickup maker in May, with sales increasing 3 percent to 15,500. Jianghuai Automobile Co. ranked second, with deliveries advancing 23 percent to 6,800.

In May, overall pickup sales in China rose 14 percent to around 52,000.

In the first five months, pickup deliveries industrywide climbed 18 percent to some 259,000, according to the trade group. Sales of electrified pickups reached 34,000 year to date, a tenfold increase from a year earlier, and 13 percent of all pickup deliveries industrywide.