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the july sales of chinese new energy vehicle brands in europe are released. this is the first month since the new tariffs were implemented. have chinese brands been affected?

according to data from research firm jato dynamics, the number of electric vehicles registered by chinese brands in europe in july totaled less than 14,000, down from more than 23,000 in june and down 9.7% from the same period last year.

looking at each chinese brand specifically, saic motor's mg brand has seen the biggest decline, with sales of 5,330 electric vehicles in europe in july, down 38% from the same period last year; cumulative sales in the first seven months of this year were 50,120, down 13% year-on-year. however, mg is still the chinese brand with the highest sales in europe.

mg saw an even bigger drop from june, at 60%. in the last month before the tariffs kicked in, mg delivered more than 13,000 electric vehicles to european dealers.

byd's sales increased instead of decreased. in july, it sold 3,740 electric vehicles in europe, a year-on-year increase of 100%. in the first seven months of this year, it sold a total of 20,750 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 327 vehicles. however, it was still a month-on-month decrease of 5.5% compared with june.

the sales of other chinese brands in europe are still at a small scale.

xpeng motors delivered 578 new cars in europe in july, up 335% year-on-year; the cumulative delivery so far this year has increased by 1,432% to 2,818. great wall motors sold 292 vehicles in europe in july, down 9% year-on-year; the cumulative sales in the first seven months of this year reached 2,382 vehicles, up 77% year-on-year.

nio registered 156 electric vehicles in europe in july, up 54% year-on-year; cumulative registrations from january to july this year increased by 5% to 1,000. geely holding's new power brand zeekr sold 111 electric vehicles in europe in july, and cumulative sales from january to july were 910.

the cumulative sales of these chinese new energy vehicle brands in europe in july was 10,558 units, a year-on-year decrease of 6%; the cumulative sales in the first seven months of this year increased by 21% year-on-year to 80,946 units.

foreign analysts believe that chinese auto brands are rushing to complete registration procedures before the tariff deadline, which has led to a decrease in electric vehicle sales in july. in the long run, if chinese auto brands want to gain a foothold in the european market, building factories locally seems to be the only option.

for example, byd, china's largest electric car manufacturer, is building factories in hungary and turkey. once these two new factories are put into production, they will help byd avoid new tariffs. in addition, byd recently announced the acquisition of its dealer in germany. these are important moves for byd to gain a foothold in europe.

however, sales of chinese new energy vehicle brands in europe declined in july, which is also related to the sluggish demand for electric vehicles in the entire european market.

according to statistics from the european automobile manufacturers association, in july 2024, new car sales in europe increased slightly by 0.2%, with italy and spain being the main drivers of growth, but france and germany declined by 2.3% and 2.1% respectively.

from january to july 2024, new car sales in europe increased by 3.9% to more than 6.5 million vehicles. spain, italy, germany and france are the largest markets in europe, and all four markets have achieved growth, with spain, which has the fastest growth, increasing by 5.6%. the european automobile manufacturers association also pointed out that the growth in the first seven months was based on a low base last year.

although the total number of new cars in europe increased in july, the performance of electric vehicles (mainly pure electric vehicles) was still unsatisfactory.

in july 2024, sales of pure electric vehicles in europe fell by 10.8% to 102,705 units, and the market share fell from 13.5% a year ago to 12.1%. although countries such as belgium, the netherlands and france have seen some growth, they cannot offset the sharp decline in germany. germany's pure electric vehicle sales fell by 36.8% in july. from january to july this year, a total of 815,399 pure electric vehicles were sold in europe, accounting for 12.5% ​​of the total market.

along with pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles also fell. sales of this type of electric vehicle fell by 14.1% in july, but germany unexpectedly increased by 3.2%. a total of 57,679 new plug-in hybrid vehicles were sold in europe in july, accounting for 6.8% of the entire car market, down from 7.9% last year.

however, unlike pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles, which have performed poorly in europe, demand for hybrid vehicles is increasing day by day.

hybrid electric vehicle (hev) sales in europe increased by 25.7% to 273,003 units in july 2024. all four major markets saw growth – france (47.4%), spain (31.5%), germany (22.4%) and italy (17.4%). this growth pushed the hev market share up to 32% from 25.5% in july 2023.

it can be seen that if only pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles are counted, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in europe in july was only 18.9%, far lower than the domestic level of over 50%. this also explains why european automakers have become cautious about new energy vehicles.

however, if hybrid vehicles are also taken into account, the penetration rate of electric vehicles in europe in july reached 50.9%, which is basically the same level as the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in china. this makes people wonder whether the future global electrification transformation will turn to pure electric vehicles or hybrid electric vehicles.

(author: wang ruihao, editor: zhang min)