AP – Auto sales in China faltered in July, slipping five per cent from a year earlier, the China Passenger Car Association said yesterday, although exports jumped about 20 per cent as makers of electric vehicles expanded into global markets.
Sales of passenger cars totaled about two million units, with about 1.6 million sold inside China, a year-on-year decline of 10 per cent. Total exports of passenger vehicles jumped more than 20 per cent to 399,000 units.
More than half of all vehicles sold were called “new energy vehicles”, or electrics and plug-in hybrids. To try to boost demand, the government has expanded incentives to encourage drivers to trade in their older, gas and diesel-fuelled cars and buy electric vehicles (EVs).
While overall car sales have remained lackluster, sales of EVs rose nearly 30 per cent in July from the year before to about 991,000. Of that total, 887,000 were sold in China and 103,000 were exported.
Sales of foreign automakers have stalled or fallen this year, attesting to intense price competition in an oversaturated market.
The share of auto sales held by Chinese automakers has been growing quickly and stood at two-thirds of all vehicle sales in July, as sales of their vehicles rose 10 per cent, the report said.
Most vehicles sold in China in January-July were priced between CNY100,000 to CNY150,000 (about USD14,000-USD20,500), the industry association said.
The largest share of EVs sold were priced between CNY150,000 to CNY200,000 (USD20,500-USD28,000).
China’s Chery Automobile, SAIC and Geely still export more vehicles, and most of them conventional fuel engine models, than EV makers like BYD and Tesla.
But the latter are quickly gaining in the market.
BYD exported 31,000 EVs and hybrids in July, while Tesla’s exports totaled 28,000, the report said.
In the first seven months of the year, BYD exported 2.38 million EVs, to Tesla’s 1.76 million, it said.
