Thanks to the introduction of favorable government policies, stock values of several enterprises associated with manufacturing new energy vehicles in the A shares market have increased recently. On Tuesday, ten enterprises reported growth of over five percent. The day before, 11 associated enterprises reported rises in their stock values.
Tax exemptions for new energy vehicles and regulations forcing government departments to buy new energy vehicles for official use are two major factors benefiting the Chinese new energy vehicle market. Jiang Xueqing, who works with Orient Securities, explains his outlook for the country's new energy vehicle market this year: " 300,000 to 400,000 government vehicles [will be] purchased this year; new energy vehicles will make up no less than ten percent [of that number]. Therefore, 30,000 to 40,000 new energy vehicles will be purchased as government vehicles in 2014."
China Association of Automobile Manufacturers General Secretary Dong Yang predicts new energy vehicle sales this year to total 50,000 units. Mr. Dong adds that government vehicle purchases will account for over 60 percent of those sales.
According to CAAM statistics, 20,692 new energy vehicles were manufactured and 20,477 sold over the first six months of this year. Those figures respectively represent year-on-year growth of 230 percent and 220 percent and are both higher than the total production and sales figures for the whole year of 2013.
Zheng Gang, general manager of BAIC's new energy subsidiary, offers his insight: "As far as manufacturers are concerned, they should first make sure their products are made well. At the same time, more charging posts and other infrastructure should be constructed, so that buyers are not worried about not being able to charge their vehicles. Furthermore, we need to tackle the lack of awareness the ordinary person has regarding electric vehicles, as well as eliminate any misunderstandings caused by this lack of knowledge."
Mr. Zheng also added that selling new energy vehicles is different from selling traditional fuel powered vehicles. There are a lot more factors influencing their sales; OEMs can't act on their own as government policies and regulations, as well as consumer awareness and understanding, all play a role as well.
