In 2023, China's automobile production and sales exceeded 30 million units, for 15 consecutive years to become the world's first automobile production and sales country. 30 million units, meaning that every 3 new cars sold, there is a “made in China”. To step on this new level, inseparable from the important pulling effect of new energy vehicles. 2023, China's new energy vehicle performance is strong, the annual production and sales volume exceeded 9 million units, the continuation of production and sales of two prosperous development momentum. China's new energy vehicle production and sales have been ranked first in the world for nine consecutive years, and has become an important force in promoting the transformation of the global automobile industry.

The development of new energy vehicles is China's automotive power to automotive power from the road of necessity. Standing on a new starting point, new energy vehicles have more abundant innovation power and development vitality, with new models and new technologies emerging one after another, adding distinctive colors for Made in China. With the automobile industry to speed up the green transformation and upgrading, new energy automobile industry clusters accelerate the emergence of China's new energy vehicles are in a frontrunner position to boost China's automobile industry towards the goal of “automobile power” to make solid progress.

Strong leadership in “new energy”

In July 2023, the 20 millionth Chinese new energy vehicle rolled off the production line. By the end of 2023, China's new energy vehicle ownership reached 20.41 million. From 1 to the first 10 million vehicles, China's new energy automobile industry took nearly 27 years, while the second 10 million vehicles, only 1 year and 5 months, the development speed is amazing.

With the strategic vigor of changing lanes, China's auto industry firmly grasp the historic opportunity of the rise of new energy vehicles, is reshaping the pattern of the global auto industry. China's new energy vehicle advantage is obvious, in the past year, domestic new energy vehicles in the global production and sales of new energy vehicles accounted for about two-thirds of the international market share is getting “heavy”.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) statistical analysis, in 2023, China's new energy vehicle production and sales were completed 9,587,000 and 9,495,000 respectively, an increase of 35.8% and 37.9% year-on-year, with a market share of 31.6%.

The rapid growth of new energy vehicles is fully reflected in the data. 2023 annual production and sales exceeded 9 million units, market share of more than 30%, meaning that the new energy vehicle industry is still “accelerating”, towards the annual sales of ten million quantitative progress, and continue to stimulate new kinetic energy for the high-quality development of the economy.

Zhang Yongwei, vice president of China Electric Vehicle Association, said not long ago that at present, the latest models of the new generation of electric vehicles are basically the first to launch in China, the new generation of automobile-related technologies are often the first to be applied to the products launched in China, which has laid a solid foundation for the consolidation of China's new energy automobile industry's leading position.

Green and low-carbon becomes the trend

“Promoting the greening and low-carbonization of economic and social development is a key part of achieving high-quality development.” In order to realize the “dual-carbon” goal, the “Green and Low Carbon Development Roadmap for the Automotive Industry 1.0” released in December 2023 proposes that the automotive industry strives to reach the peak of carbon emissions by 2030, and then through sustained efforts to support the carbon neutrality goal to be achieved on schedule.

China has been committed to promoting the low-carbon transformation of green energy and providing all-round support for the new energy automobile industry. The Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China, released on January 11 this year, mentioned that “the promotion of green and low-carbon development in key areas will be coordinated. By 2027, the proportion of new energy vehicles in new cars will strive to reach 45%, and old internal combustion locomotives will be basically eliminated.”

Green low-carbon is not only an important direction for the transformation and upgrading of the global automotive industry, but also an important connotation for China's automotive industry to implement and realize high-quality development. To this end, Chinese car enterprises aim at pure electric, hybrid and hydrogen fuel and other diversified technology routes, fine-tuning the core technologies of intelligence, battery, electronic control, etc., and deeply laying out the lithium-ion and automotive electronics industry chain to help the auto industry realize the goal of green development as soon as possible.

Policy Renewal and Re-assistance

China's new energy vehicle development has entered a new stage of marketization, and policy support has continued to inject new momentum to stimulate the potential of automobile consumption. In the past year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with seven ministries and commissions, jointly issued the “Work Program for Stabilizing Growth in the Automotive Industry (2023-2024)” to support the expansion of new energy vehicle consumption.

In order to stabilize market expectations and promote the high-quality development of the automobile industry, China's new energy vehicle purchase tax reduction and exemption policy for new energy vehicles will be extended to the end of 2027, with the reduction and exemption efforts being stepped down in annual steps; the vehicle purchase tax for new energy passenger cars will be optimized from all exemptions to exemptions from the limit; and the technical requirements of new energy automobile products enjoying reduced or exemptions from the vehicle purchase tax will be further updated. It is estimated that the total amount of vehicle purchase tax reduction and exemption from 2024 to 2027 will reach RMB 520 billion.

In the past year, in conjunction with the Ministry of Commerce's “2023 Consumption Revitalization Year” working arrangement, the “Hundred Cities Linkage” Auto Festival and “Thousands of Counties and Ten Thousand Towns” New Energy Vehicle Consumption Season have been carried out, with remarkable results. The “Hundred Cities Linkage” Auto Festival and the “Thousand Counties and Ten Thousand Towns” New Energy Vehicle Consumption Season activities have been carried out with remarkable results. Nearly 70 popular models plus purchase subsidies have further released the consumer demand for new energy vehicles. In addition, the construction of charging infrastructure has been accelerated to better support new energy vehicles in the countryside and rural revitalization.

At the start of 2024, policies in many places continued to make efforts to facilitate consumption. For example, consumption vouchers targeting physical goods such as cars and home appliances were issued to stabilize bulk consumption such as cars and housing ......

At a recent press conference at the State Council Information Office, the relevant responsible comrade of the National Development and Reform Commission said that it will work with relevant departments to improve policies, actively expand the consumption of new energy vehicles, and promote the high-quality development of the industry. Focus on “three speed up”: First, speed up the optimization of policy measures to promote the consumption of new energy vehicles, in-depth development of new energy vehicles to the countryside activities, and vigorously promote the electrification of public sector vehicles. The second is to accelerate the promotion of new energy vehicle technology innovation, enhance the electrification of intelligent technology level. The third is to accelerate the construction of high-quality charging infrastructure system, constantly optimize and improve the charging network layout, to provide strong support for the development of new energy vehicle industry.

“Chinese car” sailing to the sea

In recent years, China's auto industry has been developing rapidly, and product performance and quality have been improving continuously, especially new energy vehicles have not only won the favor of domestic consumers, but also gradually recognized and accepted by global consumers, and the scale of export has increased year by year. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) shows that 1.203 million new energy vehicles were exported from China in 2023, up 77.6% year-on-year, hitting a record high.

From vehicle export to overseas investment and plant development, from “market for technology” to “technology export” transformation, China's new energy automobile industry by virtue of the first-mover advantage and intelligent application, gradually become the global wind vane of new energy automobile industry.

From the point of view of China's commodity exports, from the “old three” represented by clothing, home appliances, furniture, etc. to the “new three” represented by electric people-moving vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar cells, etc., the structure of China's export products continues to be optimized and upgraded, which reflects a new trend of high-quality development of China's economy. The structure of China's export products continues to optimize and upgrade, reflecting the new trend of China's high-quality economic development.

According to customs statistics, in 2023, the total export of the “new three” products amounted to 1.06 trillion yuan, exceeding the trillion mark for the first time, with an increase of 29.9%. New energy vehicles to go overseas, drive the whole industry chain to expand overseas, not only for the automobile production and sales to contribute to the growth of bright spots, more China's foreign trade economy to add vitality.

Localized production and the establishment of a comprehensive local sales system are important paths for automotive enterprises to go overseas.2023, Chinese new energy automotive enterprises, which have taken a wider and wider path to go overseas, have accelerated the layout of overseas factories. Guangzhou Automobile, Changan, Nezha and other car companies have started construction of overseas passenger car production bases in Southeast Asia, new energy vehicle key parts production bases; in December 2023, BYD announced that it would build a new energy vehicle production base in the city of Szeged, Hungary; at the beginning of 2024, Great Wall Motor's electric car brand Ola Good Cat officially launched its new energy vehicle manufacturing base in Rayong, Thailand. China's new energy vehicles are accelerating out of the country, investing and setting up factories outside the country, bringing advanced technology and products, so that more users around the world can enjoy the fruits of scientific and technological progress. Zhang Yongwei believes that in 2024, the highlight of the internationalization of China's new energy vehicles should be the increasing proportion of overseas production and overseas sales.

Industry Chain Advantage Expanded

With the continuous improvement of China's automotive industry chain, the industry supporting further optimization, new energy vehicles into a new stage of rapid development. At present, China has formed a number of large-scale new energy vehicle industry clusters in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Chengdu-Chongqing and Northeast China.

China's important industrial corridor - along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, for example, from Chongqing's Chang'an Automobile, Sailix Automobile, to Hubei's Dongfeng Automobile, to Anhui's Chery, JAC, Azure, and then Shanghai's SAIC, Tesla, etc., automobile enterprises drive the upstream and downstream industries to gather, forming a new energy automobile-driven development of the industry collection Belt.

Behind the rapid growth of new energy vehicle production and sales, the strength of the entire industrial chain supply chain is reflected. Taking power battery as an example, among the top ten enterprises in the global power battery installed capacity in 2023, Chinese enterprises occupy six seats, with a market share of more than 60%, and have strong competitiveness in the global market. Based on China's first-mover advantage in the field of new energy, a structurally complete, organic synergistic new energy automotive industry chain supply chain system has emerged, and its competitiveness in the global market is becoming more and more apparent.

Electrification and intelligent changes have reshaped the value chain of the automobile industry, and new energy vehicles are continuously upgrading towards better intelligent experience and high-level automatic driving. The perfect industrial chain, excellent core technology and increasingly common charging infrastructure have made more consumers fall in love with green transportation.

New energy vehicles are the main direction for the transformation and upgrading of the global automobile industry and green development, as well as a strategic choice for the high-quality development of China's automobile industry. Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said, “New energy vehicles and auto exports will remain the main driving force of China's auto industry in 2024.” Zhang Yongwei predicted that “the growth momentum of China's automobile in 2024 will continue, and the scale of production and sales of new energy vehicles is expected to reach 13 million units, and the overall penetration rate may exceed 40%.” With the increasing competitiveness of China's new energy vehicles in the world, the market vitality and consumption potential will be further stimulated, the development of new energy vehicles in the future is good and promising, and will play an important leading pulling role in the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry.