China, the world’s largest new energy vehicle (NEV) market, will see its production record exceeding 1.5 million units in 2019, a senior industry and information technology ministry official said today.
Citing data from China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the spokesman for China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Huang Libin said that NEV production for the past quarter was 304,000 units, up 102.7% compared to Q1 2018.
“The growth was achieved against the backdrop of declining government subsidies in recent years,” Huang said, adding that he predicts the production volume of new energy vehicles to exceed 1.5 million units in the course of this year.
Chinese car makers produced 1.27 million NEVs in 2018, up nearly 60% from the previous year, according to CAAM.
While still a new high, the 1.5 million production forecast–if accurate–would represent the slowest growth in recent years. The average annual growth for NEV production for the past three years stands at 55.1%.
The global NEV production volume for 2017 was 1.42 million. Out of those, 794,000 units were made in China.
Editor: Nadine Freischlad