New Business
December EV sales of BYD, Nio, Xpeng, Li Auto, Leap, Zeekr soar on China’s buying spree
Half a dozen assemblers in China delivered record numbers of electric vehicles (EVs) to customers last month, as they rode on a nationwide buying spree before the end of a state subsidy that boosted the year’s total sales to 10 million units.
The 20,000 yuan (US$2,740) subsidy for replacing oil guzzlers with EVs – equivalent to between 10 and 20 per cent of the price of half of the EVs on Chinese roads – ran from July to December, prompting customers to rush to seal deals ahead of the year end, said Zhao Zhen, a sales director at Shanghai-based dealer Wan Zhuo Auto.
That way, they can “benefit from the subsidy”, she said, noting that the sales momentum may not be sustainable in 2025 with the expiry of the subsidy, as budget-conscious Chinese consumers refrain from spending on big-ticket items amid slowing economic growth.
For now, carmakers are celebrating their new milestones. BYD, the world’s largest electric car assembler, sold 514,809 units in December, smashing its November record by 1.6 per cent. The Shenzhen-based company delivered 4.27 million pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles last year, up 41.3 per cent compared with 2023. It also beat the full-year sales target of 3.6 million units chairman Wang Chuanfu announced in March by almost 19 per cent.
Nio handed 31,138 EVs to customers last month, up 72.9 per cent from the same month in 2023, bolstered by surging deliveries of its mass-market brand Onvo. The Shanghai-based carmaker sold more than 30,000 cars for the first time last month.
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