On Oct. 28, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said NEV retail reached 753,000 units in the first 25 days of October, down 13% from a year earlier and 1% from the prior month. Year-to-date retail stood at 8.511 million units, also down 13%.
Wholesale told a more resilient story: 1.008 million units in the first 25 days, up 3% year on year, with year-to-date wholesale at 12.458 million, up 9%. CPCA attributed the split to a weak 'golden September, silver October' peak.
CPCA secretary-general Cui Dongshu noted that the winter sales boost usually captured by gasoline cars has sharply weakened under high oil prices, leaving NEVs relatively steadier.
The association earlier estimated full-month October NEV retail at about 1.07 million units with a 66.9% penetration rate, though a tenth straight year-on-year decline remains possible.
Image: Electric two-wheeler charging station. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
