The continued high pace of expansion of hybrids and electric vehicles in the Chinese market had a beneficial effect on all global auto industry statistics at the end of July, as noted by Reuters, citing data from Rho Motion. As of last month, sales volumes of electric vehicles worldwide increased by 21% to 1.35 million units year-on-year.
Image source: BYD
The sample included battery electric vehicles and hybrids with internal combustion engines that can be recharged from the mains. Of this amount, 880 thousand electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids were sold in China. In the local market, this category of vehicles at the end of July increased sales volumes by 31% compared to the same period last year. In the first seven months of this year, rechargeable hybrids individually in the Chinese market increased sales volumes by 70%.
BYD is considered by Rho Motion specialists to be the largest manufacturer of passenger vehicles with traction electric motors and the ability to recharge from the network not only in China, but also in the global market. This company has managed to increase sales of battery electric vehicles by 13% since the beginning of the year, and the company sold rechargeable hybrids by 44% more than in the same period in 2023. At the end of July, BYD was able to sell a record number of rechargeable hybrids. According to representatives of Rho Motion, the popularity of sequential hybrids, in which the internal combustion engine has no mechanical connection with the wheels and is used only to generate electricity, is rapidly growing.
At the end of July, the European market for electric vehicles and hybrids showed a decline of 7.8%, and over the seven months of this year, approximately the same number of cars with these types of power plants were sold in the region as a year earlier. Since the beginning of July, the European Union has had increased customs duties on the import of Chinese-assembled electric vehicles, but the rates vary quite widely, depending on the brand of the car. In Europe’s largest German market, hybrids and electric vehicles found 12% fewer buyers in the seven months of this year than a year earlier. In the US and Canada, sales of electric vehicles and hybrids grew by 7.1% year-on-year in July.