Retail sales of passenger new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China rebounded in March, reversing declines from the previous two months and pushing the segment’s retail penetration rate above 50% once again. Total NEV retail sales reached 991,000 units during the month, representing a 38% increase compared with the same period last year and a 45% rise from February, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 646,000 of those sales, marking a 50.6% year-on-year increase and a 51.2% jump from the previous month. BEVs contributed 65.2% of all NEV retail sales in March, up from 62.2% in February.
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Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), excluding extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), recorded 268,000 retail units, up 24.6% year-on-year and 37.5% sequentially. EREVs added another 77,000 units, bringing total PHEV and EREV sales to 345,000 units—an annual increase of 22.8% and a 33.2% rise from February.
The rebound comes after seasonal weakness tied to the Chinese New Year holiday, which occurred from January 28 to February 4 this year. In total, China’s passenger vehicle market—which includes sedans, SUVs, and MPVs—recorded 1.94 million retail sales in March, up 14.4% from the previous year and 40.2% higher than February. NEV retail penetration reached 51.1% in March, an increase of 8.7 percentage points from a year ago and 1.6 points from the prior month.
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Penetration rates by segment showed that local Chinese brands had the highest NEV share at 72%, followed by luxury brands at 35%, while mainstream joint-venture brands trailed at 6%. On a wholesale level, NEV sales totaled 1.13 million units in March, a 35.5% year-on-year increase and up 35.9% from February. Wholesale NEV penetration stood at 46.8%, slightly lower than February but 9.2 percentage points higher than the previous year.
Exports of passenger NEVs from China also gained momentum, reaching 143,000 units in March—up 6.4% year-on-year and 21.2% from the prior month. NEV exports represented 36.6% of all passenger car exports, with BEVs contributing 62% of that figure. Compact A0- and A00-class BEVs made up approximately one-third of total NEV exports.
