NEVs reach 60.4% of China's July wholesale sales, exports included

In July, more than six out of every ten new vehicles in CAAM’s wholesale data, including exports, were new energy vehicles. NEV sales reached 1,561,000 units, giving them 60.4% of total new-vehicle sales and crossing the 60% mark for the first time in China Association of Automobile Manufacturers data. The figure includes battery-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles, as well as exports.

The milestone arrived in a market pulled in opposite directions. China’s total vehicle sales fell to 2,584,000 units, down 0.3% year on year and 8% from June. Domestic sales were weaker still, falling 23.6% year on year to 1,541,000 units. CAAM deputy secretary general Chen Shihua linked July’s slowdown to the usual seasonal lull, demand pulled forward by a mid-year sales push, and hot weather, typhoons and flooding in some regions.

Exports changed the picture. China shipped 1,043,000 vehicles in July, passing the one-million mark for a second consecutive month. NEV exports rose 145.5% year on year to 553,000 units, up 5.7% from June; they represented more than half of all vehicle exports for the second month running. Conventional fuel-vehicle exports reached 490,000 units, up 40% year on year.

The contrast with the domestic market is stark. Domestic NEV sales were 1,008,000 units, down 2.8% year on year, while domestic sales of conventional fuel vehicles plunged 45.7% to 533,000 units. Across the first seven months, NEV output reached 9,014,000 units and sales 9,007,000 units, both up nearly 10% year on year. NEV exports totaled 2,909,000 units, up 1.2 times year on year.

And concretely? Chinese automakers are finding growth abroad while their home market tightens. CAAM attributes the export surge to China’s complete automotive supply chain — from lithium-ore processing and batteries to assembly — plus rapid improvements in smart-driving and cockpit-interaction features. The data are wholesale figures, not proof that every overseas market has adopted these vehicles, but they show a technology already being produced and sold at industrial scale.