NEV sales, auto exports drive China’s auto market in July 2024

Beijing (Gasgoo)- In July, China's auto market entered its traditional off-season, with some car manufacturers taking high-temperature breaks, leading to a slowdown in production and sales. The overall market performance was relatively subdued, with both month-on-month and year-on-year declines. Notably, the production and sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles saw decreases both on a monthly and yearly basis, while new energy vehicles (NEVs) and auto exports continued to register strong year-on-year growth.

Recently, China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance issued the "Several Measures to Intensify Support for Large-Scale Equipment Renewal and Old-for-New Replacement of Consumer Goods." The policy aims to support the scrapping and renewal of old operational trucks, increase subsidies for the renewal of new energy buses and power batteries, and raise the subsidies for vehicle scrapping and replacement.

Compared to the implementation details released on April 24, this policy shows a significant increase in support, providing subsidies for both passenger and commercial vehicles. The enhanced national-level policy is expected to further unleash demand for vehicle trade-in in the stock market. Coupled with the continuous introduction of new models by automakers, local governments relaxing purchase restrictions, and issuing additional license quotas, these multi-layered measures are expected to help achieve the annual market goals.

In the seventh month of 2024, China’s auto production and sales reached 2.286 million vehicles and 2.262 million vehicles, respectively, representing a downturn both month-on-month and year-on-year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

In the first seven months of this year, China’s auto output summed up to 16.179 million vehicles, which is still 3.4% higher than that of the previous year. In the meantime, the country’s auto sales also stayed on an upward trajectory, rising 4.4% year over year to 16.31 million vehicles.

Despite the slight drop across the overall market in July, China’s NEV market stands unaffected. Last month, China produced a total of 984,000 NEVs, representing a 22.3% jump year-on-year. Meanwhile, automakers in China sold 991,000 NEVs, indicating a 27% increase from a year ago. NEVs made up 43.8% of China’s total new vehicle sales in July.

Of the NEVs sold in the past month, 887,000 units were consumed domestically, surging 30.7% year on year despite dipping 7.9% month on month. At the same time, China’s NEV exports went up 20.6% from the previous month and 2.2% from the previous year to 103,000 units.

In the Jan.-Jul. period of 2024, China’s NEV production and sales volumes amounted to 5.914 million and 5.934 million units, representing a 28.8% and 31.1% hike compared to that of the previous year, respectively. NEVs constituted 36.4% of the country’s total auto sales in the period.

In the Jan.-Jul. period, 5.226 million NEVs were sold across China, up 34.3% year-on-year. Meanwhile, 708,000 NEVs were shipped to overseas markets, rising 11.4% from the year-ago period.

Overall, automakers in China achieved a combined monthly auto export volume of 469,000 units in July, which climbed up 19.6% year over year but dipped 3.2% month over month. Among which, 399,000 units were passenger cars (-1% MoM, +22.4% YoY), and 70,000 units were commercial vehicles (-13.9% MoM, +5.8% YoY).

In the first seven months of 2024, China’s auto exports came in at 3.262 million units, leaping 28.8% from a year ago. Exports for passenger cars surged 30.1% year on year to 2.738 million units, while that of commercial vehicles jumped 22.6% to 524,000 units.

In July, among the top ten vehicle exporters, Chery shipped 90,000 vehicles overseas, marking a year-on-year increase of 17.2% and accounting for 19.2% of the country’s total export volume. Compared to the same period last year, JAC Group saw the most significant growth, with exports doubling to 22,000 units.

From January to July, on the top ten automakers list by exports, BYD exported 238,000 vehicles and scored a year-on-year spike of 140%. Great Wall Motor moved 240,000 vehicles overseas and posted a 58.8% year-on-year leap. Meanwhile, Changan Auto realized a 57.9% year-on-year soar with its export volume reaching 326,000 vehicles.