China’s EV and hybrid sales rose 7.5% in August, the slowest pace in 18 months, though they continued to outsell petrol cars for a sixth straight month.China’s August sales of electric vehicles and hybrids grew at the slowest pace in one and a half years as the government continues efforts to halt punishing price wars.
EV and hybrid sales outstripped gasoline cars for the sixth straight month in August, but annual growth cooled to 7.5 per cent from 12 per cent in July, China Passenger Car Association data showed on Monday.
That was the smallest gain since February 2024, when the segment registered an 11.6 per cent sales decline owing to shifting timings of the week-long Chinese New Year holiday.
Overall car sales totalled 2.02 million vehicles last month, up 4.9 per cent year on year for the slowest growth in seven months.
EV maker BYD has cut its sales target for this year by as much as 16 per cent to 4.6 million vehicles, Reuters reported last week.
The biggest Chinese rival to Tesla reported domestic sales, which account for nearly 80 per cent of its global sales, fell for a fourth consecutive month in August, when it also recorded consecutive monthly production drops for the first time since 2020.
Reeling from weakening demand for extended-range hybrids, Li Auto’s August sales were down year on year for a third month in a row.
The Chinese market’s extended-range hybrid sales edged up 0.3 per cent year on year after a 11.4 per cent drop in July while plug-in hybrid sales were down 7.3 per cent, against a 0.2 per cent dip in July, CPCA data showed.
However, August was the best month yet in terms of EV and hybrid sales for local Geely, Xpeng and Nio .
Geely, China’s biggest rival to BYD, registered a 95.2 per cent annual leap in sales in this segment last month.
Car export growth eased to 20.2 per cent last month from 25 per cent in July.
