The Leapmotor range-extended vehicle will be unveiled at the company's headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on June 22, 2024.
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BEIJING – Hybrid vehicles are proving more popular than pure battery vehicles in China, even as consumers shift away from purely gas-powered cars, full-year data shows.
BYDdefinitely the market leader, said w reporting on Wednesday in 2024, it sold approximately 4.3 million passenger cars. Nearly 2.5 million of those vehicles were hybrid, marking a reversal from 2023, when BYD sold slightly fewer hybrid cars than pure battery vehicles.
TeslaThe pure-battery car company is on track to sell more than 600,000 vehicles in China for the second year in a row, according to CNBC calculations based on data from the China Passenger Car Association. Elon Musk's car company is expected to release data for 2024 on Thursday morning in the US.
“We continue to see growth in the Chinese electric battery market, but we see it slowing down,” said Joe McCabe, president and CEO of AutoForecast Solutions. It forecasts that by 2031 there will still be demand for vehicles powered by combustion engines, including hybrid cars.
It's right behind Tesla Li Carwith recording Last year, 500,508 vehicles were delivered– the company said in its Wednesday filing. Most of the company's cars are equipped with a fuel tank that allows you to increase the driving range on the battery.
Stellar“Chinese partner, Stepping enginewhich sells both battery-powered and hybrid cars delivered nearly 300,000 cars in 2024and plans to deliver 500,000 in the coming year.
Chinese electric car start-ups, which until now sold only battery-powered vehicles, ranked lower in year-round deliveries. Electric car manufacturer Zeekr sold 222,123 battery-powered vehicles, Nio 221,970 i were sold Xpeng 190,068 sold.
The final breakdown of Nio and Xpeng for this year includes data for the companies' cheaper brands whose deliveries began in the second half of 2024.
Xpeng revealed its own in November hybrid range extension systemwhile Zeekr in August announced plans to launch its first hybrid car in 2025.
Last year, electric car brands faced stiffer competition with the launch of Xiaomi smartphones SU7 electric sedan in March. By the end of December, Xiaomi claimed to have already delivered over 135,000 cars and set a target of delivering 300,000 cars in 2025.
Zeekr has set a target of 320,000 deliveries for 2025 after slightly exceeding its target reported a target of 230,000 cars in 2024
A sharp increase in the number of new energy cars
China's push to develop its own electric cars reached a tipping point in July, with the share of new-powered vehicles sold which accounted for more than half of all passenger cars sold this month– says the passenger car association. New energy vehicles include pure battery and hybrid cars.
This trend continued throughout November, when approx penetration rate 52.3%– according to the association's data. In July 2023, the penetration rate was 36%.
When looking at market developments, it's important to remember that China continues to offer local residents many incentives to purchase new electric vehicles, McCabe said. He added that market pressure is part of China's efforts build national players instead of relying on foreign brands.
Cities like Beijing are making it easier for residents to get license plates for new energy vehicles instead of fuel-powered cars. Part of China's efforts to boost consumption in recent months has focused on subsidizing purchases of new electric vehicles.
Hybrids also boosted U.S. light vehicle sales in the second quarter, driving overall sales penetration of hybrid and battery-electric cars up to 18.7%– according to Wards Intelligence data published by the US Energy Information Administration.