(Yicai) June 9 -- All of the top 10 best-selling auto models in China were new energy vehicles last month, as fossil fuel-powered cars are being rapidly pushed out of the mainstream consumer market.

The most popular car model in May was the Xingyuan, a micro battery electric vehicle developed by Geely Automobile, with 38,751 units sold, according to passenger car retail sales data compiled by DCar. Tesla’s Model Y ranked second with 28,911 units, followed by Xiaomi’s SU7, Leapmotor’s A10, and Li Auto’s i6.

Looking at the top 20 best-selling model list in May, only four were fuel-powered vehicles. Geely Auto’s Boyue, with 13,395 units sold, ranked 17th, followed by Volkswagen’s Lavida, Nissan’s Sylphy‌, and Geely Auto’s Binyue, with monthly sales of over 10,000 units each.

There was one fossil fuel car in the top 10 in April, five in March, and seven in January.

The automotive market was characterized by booming NEV sales last month, with the domestic NEV penetration rate reaching record 62.9 percent, indicating an electrification replacement pace faster than expected, said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association.

China’s passenger vehicle retail sales plunged 22 percent to 1.51 million units in May from a year earlier, with the total in the first five months down 20 percent to 7.1 million units from the same period last year, according to data released by the CPCA yesterday. Retail sales of fossil fuel-powered cars sank 39 percent in the period.

The core reason for the decline in China’s auto industry in May was the sharp drop in sales of fossil fuel vehicles due to high oil prices because of geopolitical instability, Cui noted.

This not only directly suppressed consumers’ willingness to buy fossil fuel cars but also raises household spending pressure, further weakening the overall car-purchasing power and becoming a key factor constraining year-on-year growth in the automotive market, he added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione