China EVs, hybrids to cement sales lead over petrol cars

BEIJING: Sales of electric and hybrid vehicles in China likely surged in August, surpassing faltering deliveries of conventional petrol cars for the second month in a row.

Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles rose 42% year-on-year to just over a million units, according to preliminary data from China’s Passenger Car Association Wednesday.

Overall vehicle shipments meanwhile shrank 1% from the same period last year to 1.9 million units.

Sales of EVs and hybrids are expected to be 53% of the total in the month.

"Currently, the complicated environment is having a relatively big impact on consumer confidence,” the association wrote in a Wechat post Wednesday.

The demand for first-time car purchases isn’t as strong as trading in, which has become the growth driver for the autos market, it added.

The strong momentum in the EV segment for what is normally a slow period for car production and sales comes after the government doubled subsidies for trading in old vehicles at the end of July.

Buyers who purchase qualifying new EVs or petrol cars can receive up to 20,000 yuan ($2,811).

EV makers benefited from the boost. Stellantis partner Zhejiang Leapmotor Technologies Ltd.’s August sales surged 113% compared with the same time last year, and premium brand Zeekr grew 46%. Market leader BYD Co. increased deliveries in August by 30% to 370,854 vehicles.

Yuqian Ding, head of China autos research at HSBC Qianhai Securities Ltd., said BYD’s monthly volumes into September and October will continue to be robust with its strong new model supply, expanding overseas footprint, and enhanced trade-in subsidy "likely to refresh new highs on monthly deliveries.”