BYD slightly boosts EV sales in August
BYD sold more New Energy Vehicles in August than in July. If the sales figures of the country’s largest NEV manufacturer are taken as an indicator, the situation on the Chinese market for New Energy Vehicles could calm down a bit. For the year as a whole, however, the number of EV sales remains in the red.
Specifically, BYD sold 15,283 NEVs in August 2020, 8.59 per cent less than a year ago (16,719 units). While sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids continued to fall year-on-year (-12.99 and -9.81 per cent respectively), BYD more than doubled its sales of electric commercial vehicles, especially its electric buses.
Compared to July 2020, NEV sales were slightly higher at 1.21 per cent. BEVs were down ten per cent, PHEVs (+37.62 per cent) and electric buses (+1.64 per cent) were up. The market launch of the new generation of the BYD Han seems to have helped here. The flagship sedan reached 4,000 units in August alone. The Han is available both as a BEV and a PHEV. BYD sold 2,011 of the electric vehicle series in August, with the e2 accounting for about three quarters of the total.
Although BYD may have seen slight growth in NEV sales in August, the market has not yet calmed down completely. While plug-in hybrids were the big winners in the BYD statistics in August, they were still down in July. The major registration losses appear to be levelling off, but sales are still volatile – and react enormously strongly to individual model premieres such as the Han.
Cumulative sales figures show how much the Chinese market has suffered since the change in subsidy policy in the summer of 2019: From January to August 2019, BYD was able to sell 178,939 New Energy Vehicles thanks to the strong first half of the year, while between January and August 2020 it sold only 91,060 vehicles – a drop of 49.11 per cent. Only the electric buses, which were less affected by the new NEV subsidy, were able to increase their cumulative sales by 79.28 per cent compared to the previous year.
However, the sales figures for BYD also show that customers are once again turning more to pure combustion engines. Compared to August 2019, BYD almost doubled its sales of gasoline-powered sedans. Sales of SUVs rose by around seven per cent, with only MPVs (i.e. vans) less in demand than a year ago.
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