A total of 72,711 new energy vehicles were sold in China over the first half of 2015. This strong sales result allowed China to overtake the US to become the world’s largest market for new energy vehicles.
According to the figures, cumulative sales of domestically-manufactured new energy vehicles from January to June of this year totaled 50,627 units, up 185.8% from last year. This rapid growth has been attributed to active government support in the form of favorable local and national policies, which have helped stimulate consumer interest across the country.
Sales volumes of Chinese new energy vehicles were especially impressive in May and June, when they totaled 10,856 units and 12,366 units, respectively.
Sales of pure electric vehicles over the first half of the year totaled 29,743 units, while sales of plug-in hybrids over the same time period totaled 20,884 units. While pure electrics sales still continue to exceed those of plug-in hybrids, individual hybrid models perform very strongly. Sales of hybrids over the first half of this year increased 11.9% from the second half of 2014 and 10.3% from the first half of that year.
The BYD Qin, a plug-in hybrid, led the charts for the first half of the year with total sales of 16,477 units. The model’s strong performance is evidence of the hybrid segment’s recent success; although the number of hybrid models on the sales chart is very low, their individual performances have been very strong.
