Analysis of Retail Market of New Energy Passenger Cars in April 2018: Multi-factor Driven Area Sales Growth

In April 2018, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 43,136 units, an increase of 173.9% year-on-year, an increase of 61.6% from the previous period, and the cumulative sales in the previous April increased by 220.9% year-on-year. The sales growth was much higher than expected. The retail sales of pure electric vehicles reached 27,302, an increase of 123.7% year-on-year, and the retail sales of plug-in hybrid cars reached 15,834, an increase of 346.5% year-on-year.

Non-restricted sales in the urban market as the main driving force

From the perspective of city sales, the top TOP3 cities have sales of limited-city cities, while the TOP15 urban sales have nine cities that are not restricted to purchase, while the sales of most non-restricted cities in the TOP15 cities have grown faster than the sales growth of the restricted-car market and become new energy use. The main driving force of car sales growth;

From the point of view of new energy sources, Beijing is mainly a purely electric vehicle, mainly due to the Beijing local new energy policy, “Only electric vehicles will enjoy Beijing subsidy”; sales of other plug-in city plug-in hybrid vehicles account for a relatively large sales volume, and they are mainly sold well. Models BYD Qin, Roewe eRX5, Roewe ei6 and other models, rather than the limited purchase of cities mainly based on pure electric vehicles;

From the perspective of the nature of use, the privately-owned cities in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hangzhou have a relatively high share of private use, and the major cities in these countries are affected by vehicle purchase restriction policies, while Liuzhou, Changsha, Xiamen, Chengdu, and other urban units purchase more. Mainly in the shared car and rental and leasing markets, more pure electric vehicles are used as alternative vehicles, while Weifang, Jining, and Jinan have a very high share of private use, mainly because consumer groups in these regions mainly favor micro-electric vehicles and low-speed electric vehicles.

Summary: Many Factors Drive Regional New Energy Sales Growth

With the new energy market entering the post-subsidy era, regional markets are mainly affected by factors such as policies, modes of travel, regional factors, regional industrial structure, and consumer preferences.

On the policy front, changes in the subsidy policy will drive more private consumer groups to buy more models, unit organizations will buy more new energy vehicles, and different local policies will drive regional vehicle structure differences;

In the travel market, with the booming market for shared cars and the rental and leasing market, more new energy vehicles will be used as alternative vehicles, and new energy vehicles will become the major models for sharing the travel market;

In terms of city purchase restrictions, with the saturation of vehicle ownership, more cities will introduce a car limit purchase policy, which will drive and encourage more people to use new energy vehicles;

In terms of industrial structure, purchase of pure electric vehicles will receive more encouragement in areas with severe environmental pollution. In areas where there are many new energy industries, new energy vehicles will be more widely promoted.

In terms of consumer preferences, the different needs and preferences of different consumer groups for new energy vehicles in different regions will lead to greater differences in the structure of new energy vehicles in each region.

In summary, various factors have promoted the rapid development of the new energy market in the region, and at the same time, have made the new energy markets in different regions show greater differences.