Overall sales of new energy vehicles in China declined in August at a greater rate than the decline recorded in July. The two-month decline is the first drop in sales of NEVs in the country in more than two years.
Despite the reduced sales, industry experts still think that the sector is heading towards a positive trajectory in the coming months given the recent developments in the market.
According to industry data, the month of August only saw a total of 85,000 NEVs sold. This was a 15.8 percent drop over the same month last year. The drop was also significantly larger than the 4.7 percent drop in sales during the month of July where only 80,000 NEVs were sold.
Out of the 85,000 NEVs sold in August, 69,000 of them were fully-electric models. The remaining 16,000 vehicles sold were plug-in hybrids. Fully-electric unit sales dropped by 6 percent when compared to the same period last year, while plug-in hybrid sales dropped 41.3 percent year-on-year.
Industry experts have explained that the drop in sales for the month of July and August can mostly be attributed to the scaling down of government subsidies for these types of vehicles.
However, the removals of the subsidies are apparently not expected to alter the course of the industry as a whole for the rest of the year.
It also has to be noted that the overall NEV sales for the first eight months of this year still remains positive. From January to August, a total of 793,000 NEVs were sold in China. This is a significant 32 percent increase when compared to the same period last year. Out of the total NEVs sold so far, 629,000 of them were fully-electric vehicles.
Automotive industry forecasting firm LMC Automotive still predicts rapid growth in the industry for the rest of the year. The firm stated that the NEV industry still has great growth potential thanks to supporting from leading carmakers, new developments in battery manufacturing, and the increasing availability of charging infrastructure throughout China.
According to data published by the China Passenger Car Association, domestic players performed relatively well for the month of August despite the decline in overall sales.
BAIC BJEV led domestic players with a substantial 234.7 percent increase in sales for the month of August, selling more than 10,000 units of its new EU series models.
BYD increased its sales for the month of August by 50.9 percent, selling around 4,127 Yuan EV models and 1,867 e5 models. Geely saw a 49.9 percent year-on-year increase in sales, selling around 2,330 units of its Emgrand EV models in August.
