Top 10 China EV Brands + 5 Promising Ones (Updated 2023)
Electric cars – battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) – are rising rapidly to rival and replace their purely-gasoline counterparts, led by Chinese EV brands and traditional automobile companies.
These China-based auto brands are established EV manufacturers domestically and globally, while some are exciting up-and-coming players.
The 10 Best Chinese Electric Car Brands
This top ten EV manufacturers list isn’t in any particular as sales performances change month-to-month and year-to-year, depending on the popularity of their latest releases.
#1 BYD
Founder: Wang Chuanfu
Founded: 2003
Headquarters: Shenzen, China.
2023 Market Cap: USD 94.9 billion
BYD, short for Build Your Dreams, is a long-established electric vehicle brand based in Shenzen, China, with additional manufacturing plants in Xi’an and Changsha.
BYD is the largest EV maker locally and globally.
The automaker’s parent company, BYD Co. Ltd., began life in 1995 as a battery manufacturer before expanding its production to include electric vehicles at the turn of the century.
Although China is its primary market, the broad-ranging auto company designs and sells EVs, plug-in hybrids, and commercial electric vehicles in over 70 countries and regions.
BYD’s notable passenger vehicle models are:
- BYD Atto 3 – midsize SUV.
- BYD Atto 4 – compact sedan.
- BYD e1 – city car.
- BYD e2 – compact hatchback.
- BYD e3 – compact sedan.
- BYD e6 – MPV (multi-purpose vehicle).
- BYD e9 – midsize sedan.
- BYD Qin – compact sedan.
- BYD Tang – midsize SUV.
- BYD Song – compact SUV.
- BYD Han – midsize luxury sedan.
- BYD Yuan – subcompact SUV.
- BYD M3e – MPV (multi-purpose vehicle).
- BYD Dolphin – compact hatchback.
- BYD Seagull – city car.
- BYD Sea Lion – compact SUV.
- BYD Destroyer – compact sedan.
- BYD Frigate – midsize SUV.
- BYD Landing Ship – MPV (multi-purpose vehicle).
#2 Li Auto
Founder: Li Xiang
Founded: 2015
Headquarters: Beijing, China.
2023 Market Cap: USD 23.7 billion
With its Changzhou engineering and manufacturing facility in eastern China, Li Auto is an emerging EV brand, having debuted on the Nasdaq in 2020.
The Chinese car company focuses on plug-in-hybrid technologies of electric vehicles. Besides, it also offers rental services.
Its first release was the Li ONE electric SUV with a 2021 debut, one of the country’s top sellers.
These are Li Auto’s two primary EV models:
- Li ONE SUV.
- Li L9 SUV.
#3 SAIC Motor
Founded: 1955
Headquarters: Shanghai, China.
2023 Market Cap: USD 23.61 billion
SAIC Motor is the largest state-owned car company in China.
It invests heavily in electric vehicles, partnering with General Motors (GM) and Volkswagen to extend its international reach.
Plus, SAIC sells many electric cars locally under its brands, such as MG, Roewe, Maxus, Baojun, Wuling, IM, and Feifan.
Collectively, SAIC and its subsidiary brands and joint ventures sold millions of vehicles annually.
PHEV and all-electric models SAIC produced with Volkswagen include the e-Tharu, ID.4, Passat PHEV, and Tiguan PHEV.
#4 Changan
Founder: China South Industries Group
Founded: 1862
Headquarters: Chongqing, China.
2023 Market Cap: USD 14.21 billion
Established in the nineteenth century as a military equipment factory, the company subsequently began manufacturing commercial vans, trucks, and passenger vehicles.
Oshan and Kaicene are among Changan Automobile’s sub-brands, and the company has jointly developed cars with Ford and Mazda.
In collaboration with Huawei, Changan plans to gradually phase out gasoline and diesel vehicles and transition fully into an EV-only manufacturer.
Changan range of EVs:
- Changan Benni
- Changan Benni
- Changan CS15
- Changan CS75
- Changan Eado
- Changan Eulove
- Changan Honor
- Changan Niou
- Changan Oushang
- Changan Star
- Changan Taurustar
- Changan Ford Kuga
- Changan Ford Mondeo Energi
#5 NIO
Founder: William Li
Founded: 2014
Headquarters: Shanghai, China.
2023 Market Cap: USD 13.9 billion
Tencent (producer of the WeChat app), Baidu, and Lenovo are major investors in NIO, a Chinese maker of premium electric vehicles.
Alone or jointly, this EV company sells smart and autonomous-driving luxury electric cars by developing next-generation technologies and artificial intelligence.
Its products include innovative charging solutions and other user-centric services within the NIO OS and NIO Autonomous Driving (NAD) ecosystem.
NIO ET7 was the Chinese brand’s first autonomous driving model.
NIO electric car lineup consists of:
- NIO EC6 – midsize SUV.
- NIO EP9 – coupe.
- NIO ES6 – midsize SUV.
- NIO ES7 – midsize SUV.
- NIO ES8 – full-size SUV.
- NIO ET7 – full-size sedan.
#6 GEELY
Founder: Li Shufu
Founded: 1986
Headquarters: Hangzhou, China.
2023 market Cap: USD 12.5 billion
Geely Holding Group established Geely Auto in 1997 to enter the automotive industry.
Other car brands the parent company owns, co-owns, or partners with include Geometry, Zeekr, Lynk & Co., Volvo, Polestar, Proton, and Lotus.
With numerous R&D centers, design offices, and production facilities in China, North America, Europe, and South-East Asia, Geely and its affiliated brands are among the top-selling Chinese manufacturers globally.
Some of Geely’s recent EV models with its partner or subsidiary brands are:
- Geely Emgrand EC7.
- Geely Emgrand EV300.
- Geely Emgrand GL PHEV.
- Geely Emgrand GS Cross PHEV.
- Geely Emgran GSe Cross EV400.
- Geely Geometry A.
- Geely Geometry C.
- Geely Borui GE.
- Geely Bin Yue Ranger 260T PHEV.
- Geely Xing Yue Star T400.
- Geely JIA-JI PHEV.
- Geely X1 Mini EV.
#7 Xpeng
Founder: He Xiaopeng, Xia Heng, Lei Jun.
Founded: 2014
Headquarters: Guangzhou, China.
2023 Market Cap: USD 7.9 billion
With offices in America and public trading on the New York Stock Exchange, this China-based EV and technology company has been scaling the domestic sales chart in recent times.
It develops smart electric cars with integrated autonomous-driving features and internet technologies.
XPeng has designed interactive voice systems, similar to Amazon’s Alexa, and in-car digital assistants, gaining its EVs popularity among young families.
Popular models under the brand’s stable include:
- XPeng G9 SUV.
- XPeng G3i SUV.
- Xpeng P7 sedan.
- XPeng P5 sedan.
#8 FAW
Founder: FAW Group
Founded: 1997
Headquarters: Changchun, China.
2023 Market Cap: USD 5.55 billion
Its parent company and one of the more prominent state-owned manufacturers, FAW Group (established in 1953), founded FAW Car in 1997.
Besides the FAW brand, the Group also sells vehicles using its other brands, Hongqi and Bestune, and through joint ventures with Toyota and Volkswagen.
The Group does not only make electric passenger cars; commercial buses and trucks form part of its product line.
FAW’s own and joint-venture electric cars include:
- FAW Besturn B30
- FAW Besturn B50
- FAW Besturn X40EV
- FAW Besturn X80EV
- FAW Junpai A70E
- FAW Junpai D80E
- FAW Oley
- FAW Senia R7 EV
- FAW Toyota IZOA
- FAW VW e-Bora
- FAW VW e-Golf
- FAW VW ID.4 Crozz
#9 JAC Motors
Founded: 1964
Headquarters: Hefei, China.
2023 Market Cap: USD 3.69 billion
This Chinese car company’s products are a balanced mix of commercial and passenger vehicles, with EVs forming a smaller percentage of its total output.
JAC has three sub-brands under its umbrella: Heyue (discontinued 2017), Refine, and Jiayue.
Although they aren’t the most striking, design-wise, these EV models are affordable and target the broader mainstream market:
- JAC iEV A50
- JAC iEV A60
- JAC iEV J4
- JAC iEV330P
- JAC iEV4
- JAC iEV5
- JAC iEV6
- JAC iEV7
- JAC iEVS4
#10 BAIC Motor
Founder: Xu Heyi
Founded: 1958
Headquarters: Beijing, China.
2023 Market Cap: USD 2.25 billion
BAIC Motor is part of BAIC Group, owned by the Beijing Municipal Government.
What started as a manufacturer of commercial vehicles like buses and trucks, the parent company founded BJEV (Beijing Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd.) in 2009, under which it sells its range of electric cars – BAIC eventually spun off BJEV in 2017 with the creation of the ARCFOX brand.
Despite underwhelming sales in recent years, BAIC remains one of the leading EV manufacturers in China.
Among the Chinese brand’s extensive list of EV cars are:
- BAIC E150
- BAIC EC180
- BAIC EC3
- BAIC EC5
- BAIC EH300
- BAIC EH400
- BAIC ES210
- BAIC EU260
- BAIC EU5
- BAIC EU7
- BAIC EV12
- BAIC EV300
- BAIC EX200
- BAIC EX3
- BAIC EX300L
- BAIC EX360
- BAIC EX450
- BAIC EX5
- BEIJING passenger car series.
- BEIJING BJ series of off-road SUVs.
Promising Chinese EV Manufacturers
While they are purely EV-based brands, their rapid rise with exciting rechargeable all-electric models makes them EV companies to look out for as more startups compete for a share of the new-energy vehicles (NEV) market.
#11 ARCFOX
Founder: BAIC Group
Founded: 2017.
Headquarters: Beijing, China.
Although the BAIC Group has several automotive brands as subsidiaries, Arcfox is an innovative sub-brand dedicated to developing electric cars.
The Chinese EV brand premiered at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, unveiling its plan for the environmentally-conscious European market.
Its sales performance is rising steadily, and notable EV models include:
- Arcfox Lite
- Arcfox alpha-T
- Arcfox alpha-S
- Arcfox GT
#12 Skyworth Auto
Founder: Skywell
Founded: 2017
Headquarters: Nanjing, China.
Relatively new in the EV market, Skywell began developing its first electric car in 2017 and started selling the Skywell ET5 in 2020.
The parent company renamed its EV manufacturing division in 2021 as Skyworth Auto for a clearer distinction, and the ET5 similarly and subsequently adopted a name change to Skyworth EV6.
#13 NETA (Hozon Auto)
Founder: Fang Yunzhou
Founded: 2018
Headquarters: Shanghai, China.
Hozon Auto is a relatively new but promising Chinese EV manufacturer.
It established the NETA marque in 2018. The N01 compact SUV – launched the same year – was the automaker’s first production EV model.
NETA sold over 60,000 electric cars in 2021, aiming to double the number the following year.
Some of NETA’s exciting EV models are:
- NETA N01
- NETA N03
- NETA U
- NETA V
- NETA 05
- NETA Eureka
- NETA S
#14 Aiways
Founder: Fu Qiang, Gu Feng.
Founded: 2017
Headquarters: Shanghai, China.
Established in 2017, Aiways is a Chinese company that manufactures electric cars and offers mobility services.
The company has an EV production facility in Shangrao (Jiangxi province) and a battery manufacturing base in Changshu (Jiangsu province), and its core technologies cover electric drive and artificial intelligence.
New to the EV scene, the startup Chinese electric vehicle brand has two compact electric crossovers in production:
- Aiways U5
- Aiways U6
#15 Leapmotor
Founder: Fu Liquan, Zhu Jiangming.
Founded: 2015
Headquarters: Hangzhou, China.
Leapmotor co-developed the artificial intelligence chip with Zhejiang Dahua Technology (a security camera tech company) as part of its autonomous vehicles’ smart electric car technologies.
Leapmotor also partnered with state-owned automaker FAW to develop key intelligent EV technologies and innovative production measures, plus manufacture core EV parts.
With its increasing sales performance and state-of-the-art in-house technologies, expect Leapmotor to leapfrog many of its competitors in the coming years.
Among Leapmotor’s current production EV models:
- Leapmotor C01 – midsize sedan.
- Leapmotor C11 – midsize SUV.
- Leapmotor S01 – compact sports car.
- Leapmotor T03 – hatchback.
Other China EV Makes
The electric car industry is a flourishing market with many players.
Although the fifteen EV companies listed above are carving out a significant share of the market, these Chinese electric vehicle makers deserve mention:
- Chery
- GAC Aion
- Great Wall Motors
- DFM (Dongfeng Motor Corporation)
- Weltmeister
- Hongqi
- Lynk & Co.
- WEY (owned by Great Wall Motors)
- Baojun
- Bestune
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