- In February, China's passenger NEV wholesale sales were estimated at 840,000 units, up 82 percent year-on-year, but 5 percent lower than in January.
- The higher year-on-year growth was mainly due to the fact that last year's Chinese New Year holidays were all in February, while this year the holidays ran from January 28 to February 4.
China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sales continued to decline last month, as the slow period continued and the Chinese New Year holiday weighed on the market.
In February, wholesale sales of passenger NEVs were estimated at 840,000 units, up 82 percent year-on-year but down 5 percent from January, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said in a report today.
The higher year-on-year growth is mainly due to the fact that last year's Chinese New Year holidays all fell in February -- February 10-17 -- while this year the holidays ran from January 28 to February 4, the CPCA said in a report today.
In January, manufacturers with more than 10,000 wholesale sales of passenger NEVs contributed 91.8 percent of all wholesale NEV sales for the month, the CPCA said.
The estimated sales of these carmakers in February were 770,000 units, and based on last month's structure, China's February wholesale sales of passenger NEVs will be at 840,000 units, the CPCA said.
In China, NEVs include battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and fuel cell vehicles. Their exact numbers are expected to be announced later this month.
Consumers were more sensitive to the range of NEVs in long trips during the holidays and in cooler temperatures, leading to a significant seasonal drop in penetration of these vehicles, the CPCA said.
After the holidays, there was a significant shift in consumer preferences, with NEVs improving rapidly week by week, becoming the main driver of the post-holiday passenger car market recovery, according to CPCA.
Among the major carmakers, BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) had 318,233 wholesale sales of NEVs and Geely Auto 98,433 in February.
SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 57,156 NEVs, Chery 44,375, Changan Automobile 38,046 and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) 30,688.
Related posts on CnEVPost
