Within the total, exports of new energy vehicles (NEVs) – a category that comprises pure-electric and hybrid models – more than doubled from a year earlier to 954,000 units, while exports of petrol-burning cars rose 29.9 per cent to 1.27 million units, the data showed.
The strong export performance soothed investor concerns about anaemic domestic demand and improved profit prospects for Chinese carmakers, according to analysts.
“The rising popularity of Chinese-made EVs in overseas markets hugely eased investors’ worries about the sector’s outlook this year as domestic sales slowed,” said Phate Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based data provider CnEVPost. “Chinese carmakers enjoy high profit margins abroad because they can command higher prices there.”
