China’s new energy vehicles (NEVs) sales reported a notable decline from January 16 to January 29, primarily due to the Chinese New Year holiday, COVID-19 infections, and significant price cuts.
China’s NEV sales: Jan 16-22
Auto blogger Zhu Yulong provided the relevant figures on China’s NEV insurance registrations on his Weibo account in the given time frame.
China reportedly had a year-on-year decrease of 13.55% to 67,439 units in its new NEV sales based on its insurance registrations from January 16 to January 22, 2023. That figure also represents a 31.91% decline from a week ago.
As for passenger car sales, China also saw a decline from 438,000 units a week ago to just 330,400 units in the week ending on January 22. ICE vehicles contributed 262,900 of the overall passenger car sales that week, which also declined from 338,600 units a week ago.
Below are the sales of top EV makers based on insurance registrations:
| Brand | Insurance Registrations |
| BYD | 24,708 |
| Tesla | 7,496 |
| NIO | 3,008 |
Chinese EV giant BYD recorded insurance registrations of 24,708 units for the said week. Meanwhile, America’s top EV maker Tesla only sold 7,496. Another Chinese EV maker NIO trails far behind the two with just 3,008 insurance registrations.
China’s NEV sales: Jan 23-29
China reported overall sales of 92,600 vehicles based on insurance registrations from January 23 to 29. ICE vehicles accounted for 74,600 units, while NEVs contributed 18,000 units of the general sale.
Notably, the Chinese New Year break ended from January 21 to January 27.
Below are the sales of top EV makers based on insurance registrations:
| Brand | Insurance Registrations |
| BYD | 5,280 |
| Tesla | 3,356 |
| NIO | 427 |
BYD sold 5,280 units from January 23 to 29. On the other hand, Tesla had 3,356 units, while NIO only sold 427 units.
China’s NEV sales: Full Jan 16-29
As observed in these figures, China’s overall car insurance registrations declined by 24.5% to 423,000 units in the past two weeks compared to the previous week, as per Zhu Yulong.
NEVs contributed 85,000 units (down 31.8%) to the overall insurance registrations from January 16 to 29. Meanwhile, ICE vehicles accounted for 337,000 units (down 22.4%).
Below are the sales of top EV makers based on insurance registrations:
| Brand | Insurance Registrations |
| BYD | 29,988 |
| Tesla | 10,852 |
| NIO | 3,435 |
BYD reported sales of 29,988 units based on insurance registrations. Tesla followed it with 10,852 units, while NIO only had 3,435.
As for the full month of January, NEVs only accounted for 262,000 units, while ICE vehicles had 890,000 insurance registrations.
China’s retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles – January
China Passenger Car Association’s (CPCA) data suggest that China’s new energy passenger vehicle retail sales were about 360,000 units in January. It represents a YoY growth of 1.8%, but down 43.8% from a month ago.
CPCA further estimated that the passenger vehicles’ retail sales would hit 1.36 million units. It represents a YoY decline of 34.6% and 37.3% from December. The Association also stated that China’s NEV market is facing volatility in the short term due to the price cuts and the effects of COVID-19 infections.
