NEV Sales Growth Slows Due to Spreading COVID

SHANGHAI, May 6 (SMM) - A total of 820,000 new energy vehicles were sold worldwide in March 2022, an increase of 43% month-on-month and 66% year-on-year. Among them, 619,000 pure electric models were sold, up 52% MoM and accounting for 75% of the total sales, while 211,000 plug-in hybrids were sold, up 28% MoM and accounting for 25% of the total.

China, the largest single market for new energy vehicles, continued to expand, with 459,000 units sold in March, a 43% increase from the previous month, and already accounting for 56% of the global market. In Europe, 242,000 new energy vehicles were sold in the month, a 57% increase from the previous month. Sales in Europe were mainly concentrated in seven countries, namely Germany, France, UK, Norway, Italy, Sweden and Belgium, with a CR7 market concentration of over 80%. The United States sold 83,000 units in March, an increase of 19% MoM.

The top three OEMs in terms of sales in March are Tesla, BYD and Wuling, who sold 165,000 units (up 39% MoM), 104,000 units (up 19% MoM) and 49,000 units (up 114% MoM) of new energy vehicles respectively. Although the overall global vehicle market performance was relatively weak in March, the overall growth of new energy vehicle sales was still maintained. Nonetheless, the growth rate was slightly less than the previous high due to some external factors, like the shortage of car chips and the pandemic since the beginning of 2022.

Although Tesla and Wuling ranked first and third in sales in March, they only increased by 95% and 21% year-on-year. Since March 2022, there has been a new wave of pandemic in China, resulting in the shutdown of factories in Shanghai. Therefore, although the sales rose steadily in March, the shutdown still deprived them with some of their production capacity in Shanghai. In other words, March sales should have been higher if there were no such disruptions from the pandemic.

In terms of models, the top three best-selling models were still Tesla Model Y, Model 3 and Wuling Hongguang MINI, selling 85,000 units, 74,000 units and 48,000 units respectively in March, a MoM increase of 39%, 44% and 115%.

BYD said that it has ceased the production of fuel vehicles from March 2022 in accordance with the company's development strategy. In the future, in the automotive segment, the company will focus on pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle businesses. It has become the first traditional automotive company in the world that completely ceases the production of fuel vehicles. BYD, rather than relying on the contribution of just one or two models, has a big family of various brands, with the BYD family occupying half the seats in the top 10 list.

Changan's BenBen recorded a sales of 11,000 units in March, up 91% on the previous month. Chang’an is still counting on this one model to hold up its position in the new energy sector. But it is worth noting that at the 2022 Chang’an Automobile Global Partnership Conference held on April 13, Chang’an unveiled its new energy vehicle brand "Chang’an Deep Blue", which will launch five models by 2025, of which the much-anticipated pure electric wide-body coupe, codenamed C385, will be launched in the second half of this year, opening the way for Chang’an's NEV brand to move toward the top tier.