Retail sales of new energy vehicles accounted for 51.1 percent of total passenger vehicle deliveries in China in July, outnumbering conventional internal combustion engine vehicles for the first time, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

Of the 1.72 million passenger vehicles sold in July, 878,000 units were pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and range-extended vehicles, up 36.9 percent year-on-year.

The 51.1 percent proportion marked a hike of 15 percentage points compared with the same month of 2023, said the CPCA on Thursday.

In the first seven months, retail sales of NEVs totaled 4.99 million units, up 33.7 percent from the same period of 2023.

Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the association, said the growing popularity of NEVs is the result of several factors, including a sound domestic industry chain that enables affordable prices and Chinese carmakers' lead in such technologies including plug-in hybrids.

The booming NEV market saw 17 vehicle makers each deliver at least 10,000 units in July. Sitting atop the list was BYD, which sold 340,000 units, up 30.5 percent year-on-year.

Geely came second, delivering 110,000 units, up 42 percent year-on-year and accounting for 45 percent of the Chinese conglomerate's total vehicle deliveries.

Li Auto saw its sales hit a record 51,000 units in July, up 49.4 percent year-on-year. Seres, which runs the AITO marque with Huawei, sold 42,176 new energy vehicles, up 508 percent year-on-year.

The July sales brought Seres' total deliveries in the first seven months to over 243,000 units, marking a 370 percent surge year-on-year.

GAC Aion, Leapmotor and Nio saw their sales in July exceed 20,000 units, while Zeekr, Xiaomi and Neta each sold more than 10,000 units.

The absolute majority of those popular NEV makers in China are Chinese ones, with the rare exception being Tesla. The US carmaker sold more than 74,000 units in July, as its Model Y produced at its Shanghai plant continued to be the best-selling electric SUV in China.

The rise in popularity of NEVs came against the backdrop of internal combustion engine vehicles' falling sales, according to the CPCA.

ICE vehicle retail sales stood at 840,000 units in July, a 26 percent slump year-on-year. Cumulative deliveries of ICE vehicles from January to July fell 15 percent from the same period of 2023 to 6.57 million units.

International brands and their joint ventures suffered the most as they lost out to domestic marques despite their efforts to win over tech-savvy Chinese car buyers.

In the volume car segment, overseas carmakers combined sold 440,000 units in July, down 25 percent year-on-year.

Volkswagen, still the most popular international brand in China, saw its market share shrink to 17.6 percent in the month.

Meanwhile, the combined share of Japanese brands fell to 12.9 percent in July, 3 percentage points lower compared with the same month of 2023.

In the premium car segment, sales fell 11 percent in July to 220,000 units, down 11 percent year-on-year and down 14 percent from June.

China's vehicle exports continued the momentum seen in 2023 when it overtook Japan as the world's largest vehicle exporter.

In the first seven months, Chinese and global carmakers combined shipped 3.48 million vehicles out of the country, up 25.5 percent year-on-year.