While August traditionally marks a slow season for the vehicle market, major Chinese carmakers have shown an unwavering enthusiasm for capturing market shares, continually setting new monthly sales records. Experts on Monday noted that with the support of favorable policies, this trend is expected to persist and help drive a steady economic recovery.
Traditional and emerging carmakers unveiled impressive production and sales figures for August over the weekend. BYD topped the list with sales of 274,386 vehicles, up 56.8 percent. As of end-August, cumulative sales for this year had reached 1.79 million, a surge of 83.1 percent year-on-year.
GAC Group's new-energy brand AION ranked second, delivering 52,057 vehicles to consumers. As of August, year-to-date sales had reached 306,418, up 101.18 percent year-on-year.
Emerging new-energy vehicle (NEV) developers also delivered impressive performances. Li Auto continued to lead the pack by delivering a record 34,914 vehicles to buyers in August, up 663.8 percent year-on-year, the company disclosed on Friday.
NIO ranked second by delivering 19,329 vehicles, up 81 percent, followed by Leap Motor's 14,190 and XPENG Motors' 13,690, the companies announced over the weekend.
As one of the fast-growing NEV players, XPENG has just received a $700 million investment from German Volkswagen Group and the two "entered into a long-term strategic partnership," the Chinese carmaker said in a statement in July.
The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said in a report that thanks to a boost from consumption promotion policies and discounts offered by carmakers, coupled with factors like summer vacations, demand for car purchases continues to surge.
The market showed resilience and an uptrend in August, defying the usual seasonal slump. Policy incentives and corporate stimulus measures mean demand will continue to be released, the CPCA said.
On Friday, the Ministry of Commerce, jointly with other six departments, released a two-year plan to support the sector's steady growth, vowing to achieve annual sales of about 27 million units in 2023, which would be up about 3 percent year-on-year.
NEV sales are expected to rise about 30 percent year-on-year to around 9 million units. The value-added in the automobile manufacturing sector is projected to rise about 5 percent, read the plan.
Citing data for the first seven months, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the CPCA, told the Global Times on Monday that Chinese NEVs have obvious advantages across the world. "China's NEV sales for the period from January to July reached 4.42 million, continuing to significantly surpass the sales figures of Europe and North America," he said.
（Picture: Veer）
