Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China, comprising mainly electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, declined by over 22% to 104,000 units in June 2020 from a peak year earlier level of 134,000 units, according to wholesale data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
Cumulative sales fell by 37.4% to 393,000 units in the first half of the year from 614,000 a year earlier, substantially underperforming the overall vehicle market which declined 16.7% to 10.26m units from 12.32m in H1 2019.
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Overall, passenger vehicle sales fell 22.4% to 10,257,000 units year to date while commercial vehicle sales actually increased 8.6% to a record 2,384,000.
NEV sales spiked in the first half of last year before the Chinese government slashed subsidies at the end of June, triggering a sharp sales decline in the second half 2019.
The decline continued throughout the first half of 2020 despite efforts by the central government to encourage state owned enterprises to increase purchases and the issue of additional licence plates by local governments.
BYD Auto NEV sales plunged 47% to 14,165 units in June and by over 58% to 60,677 in the first half of the year, as the company was upstaged by Tesla which saw its sales jump to 14,954 units in June and to 45,721 units year to date following the launch of local production of its popular Model 3 at the end of 2019.
