Who Is Buying EVs in China? - Not Retail Customers
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BY Yang Jian
Automotive News China
To ease the revenue shortfall, the government plans to wind down subsidies for EVs and plug-in hybrids by the end of 2020. That will make it difficult for automakers to market the vehicles to consumers.
SHANGHAI 2019/1/18; Sales of electrified vehicles have been surging in China for years. But until recently, it remained unknown who was buying many of the vehicles.
But a new research project led by Beijing-based news website Sina.com discovered that a big chunk of the EVs automakers claim to have sold have ended up at their fleet and mobility operations.
Sina.com conducted the latest research along with two groups: ChinaEV100 -- a Beijing-based industry trade group whose members include a wide range of domestic EV makers and suppliers, and Ways Information Technology Co., a Guangzhou-based market research firm.
The research, released last week, covered electrified passenger vehicles sold in China in the first 11 months of last year.
During the period, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported that roughly 886,000 battery EVs and plug-in hybrids were sold across China.
But the Sina.com -led research found that only 685,000 such vehicles were delivered to retail customers in the period.
What happened to the 201,000 EVs in the industry association’s sales tally? They were shipped by auto manufacturers to their various fleet units.
