For the first time, not a single gasoline-only car made it into China's ten best-selling passenger vehicles in May 2026.
Every spot is now occupied by either a fully electric or a plug-in hybrid model.
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The shift has been building for months. In January, seven of the top ten cars still ran on gasoline.
By March, that number dropped to five. In April, only one gas-powered Geely Binyue remained.
Now, in May, it's zero.
Top Sellers and Market Data
Sales rankings from Autohome and Autodext show five models claiming top spots across both lists: the Geely Star Wish, Tesla Model Y, Xiaomi SU7, Leapmotor A10, and Li Auto i6.
The two sources diverge further down, but agree on one thing: no combustion engine is present.
China's passenger car retail sales reached 1.51 million units in May, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
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That's a 22.1% drop year-over-year, though up about 9% from April.
Gas-powered vehicles bore the brunt of the decline.
They still held 37.1% of the market by volume in May, but accounted for 82% of the total year-over-year sales drop.
The CPCA cites high oil prices as a key factor.
New energy vehicles, including pure EVs and plug-in hybrids, now represent 62.9% of retail passenger car sales.
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This marks the third consecutive month above 60%.
Wholesale vs. Retail
The CPCA did not release an official retail sales ranking for May. The top-10 retail figures come from third-party trackers.
On the wholesale side, which tracks shipments to dealers, the picture differs.
BYD dominates the wholesale list.
The BYD Song led with over 75,000 units, followed by the Tesla Model Y at around 54,000.
Several BYD models appear in the top five, and some gasoline vehicles — including the Chery Tiggo 7 and Geely Binyue — still appear further down.
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Gas cars are not completely out of the supply chain, but they are no longer what consumers are choosing to buy.
