China’s Sales of EVs, Hybrids Surpass Conventional Cars in July
Sales of EVs and hybrids rose 37% from a year earlier
By Jiahui Huang, WSJ
Aug. 8, 2024 5:22 am ET
Retail sales of passenger cars fell 2.8% from a year earlier to 1.72 million units in July.
Sales of electric vehicles and hybrids in China surpassed that of internal-combustion-engine cars for the first time ever in July, despite weak overall demand.
Retail sales of new-energy cars, a term in China referring to EVs and hybrid vehicles, made up 51.1% of all passenger-vehicle sales in July, the China Passenger Car Association said Thursday.
Sales of EVs and hybrids rose 37% from a year earlier to 878,000 units in July, while that of conventional cars dropped 26% to 840,000 units, the CPCA said.
The industry body attributed the higher proportion of new-energy cars to factors including the country’s edge in EV and hybrid plug-in technology, as well as more aggressive incentives under a government program to encourage replacement of cars.
Retail sales of passenger cars fell 2.8% from a year earlier to 1.72 million units in July, and were down 2.6% from June, the data showed.
Overall consumption sentiment remained subdued last month, the CPCA said, but added that EVs and hybrids saw growth thanks to the doubling of government stimulus to up to 20,000 yuan ($2,785) for a car trade-in program.
The CPCA added that an ongoing price war in the auto industry started to ease last month.
China exported 376,000 cars in July, up 20% on the year and flat compared with a month earlier. Exports of new-energy vehicles rose 1.3% in July compared with a year ago, the association added.
The CPCA expects the auto market in August to be stable and projects stronger car-replacement demand than appetite to purchase new cars.
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