Manufacturing boost in China as EV sales continue to rise

According to Reuters, new energy vehicles (NEV) sales are anticipated to reach 1.1 million vehicles over the entire year, down 11% from last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. There are a number of NEVs, such as battery-powered electric, plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

“The sales rebound was fuelled by rural NEV sales promotion events and local governments support,” said senior CAAM official Chen Shihua.

This came as US giants Tesla delivered its first cars made in China at the end of 2019. Tesla’s move into the country came as the US-China trade war meant other American companies moved production out of China. However, Tesla and home-grown companies NIO and Xpeng have accelerated their manufacturing capacity in recent months where the government heavily promotes greener vehicles as a way of reducing chronic air pollution. 

“There was a new car effect in August, as a new mini EV model from GM’s local venture and Tesla’s Model 3 both sold well,” commented senior LMC Automotive Analyst, Alan Kang. “Sales at EV startups NIO and Xpeng were stable too.”

The overall automotive sales in China increased 11.6% to 2.19 million from the same month a year earlier, and is the fifth consecutive month of progress following the COVID-19 lockdown at the beginning of 2020. However, in total, sales are still down 9.7% for the first eight months of the year at 14.55 million vehicles.