AUTONEWS

Falling electric cars in China

For now, the sale of electric vehicles is strongly conditioned by the incentive policy applied in each market. If there are any doubts, just look at the case of Germany, which, as soon as it reinforced the incentives to buy this type of car, soon saw demand grow. To the point that, for the first time in nine years, it has become the first European market for this class of cars, surpassing the hitherto leading Norway.
In the East, the picture is repeated. China has the status of the world's largest car market and also consumes the most electrified vehicles. However, in this particular, it is about to close 2019 in the negative.
According to data provided by the Chinese Automobile Manufacturers Association, November was the fifth consecutive month in which the local electrified car market contracted severely. Figures point to a 44% drop in sales compared to November 2018, with only 95,000 electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) trading. Of this total, 81,000 registrations refer to purely electric models, with PHEV claiming the remaining slice (14,000 units), down 54%.
This decline in BEV and PHEV sales is largely due to the withdrawal of incentives from the Chinese Government, which, after heavily subsidizing such vehicles since 2009, felt that the technology was already mature enough to compete with much smaller supports, with combustion rivals. It is recalled that the Beijing Government chose to gradually withdraw the benefits it gave to electrified vehicles.
Still, year-on-year data are positive, although growth is minimal. Between January and November 2019, 1.04 million electrified vehicles were sold in China, 1.3% more than in 2018. Of this total, 832,000 units correspond to BEV (+ 5.2%) and 210,000 are represented PHEV (-12%). If December confirms the trend seen over the past five months, sales of electrified vehicles in China will be set back from 2018, the year in which sales of electrified cars in the Asian giant reached 1.26 million units, corresponding to growth of 62%.

Mundoquatrorodas