Chinese EV makers report sales dip in July amid narrower discounts

Electric vehicle (EV) sales in mainland China hit a speed bump last month, sparking worries about the industry’s growth momentum as more carmakers heed Beijing’s call to hold back on discounts and focus on profitability.

Total EV deliveries, comprising passenger cars and commercial vehicles like buses, slid 5 per cent from a month earlier to 1.26 million units in July, according to data from the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). It was the first month-on-month drop in the Chinese EV market since May.

The sales volume represented a 27.4 per cent increase from the same period in 2024.

“The once booming industry will not sustain its growth over the next few months because of weaker consumer demand,” said Tian Maowei, a sales manager at Yiyou Auto Service in Shanghai. “Chinese drivers are now very price-sensitive and many of them tend to make purchase decisions due to big discounts.”

The sales dip came after discounts offered by EV makers narrowed amid Beijing’s call to exit a brutal price war.

The average price cut on Chinese electric and petrol-powered cars fell to 16.7 per cent last month from an unprecedented 17.4 per cent in June, according to a recent JPMorgan report.

In late May, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology warned that carmakers initiating price cuts would face penalties, although it did not mention specific measures. The government stepped in to police the market amid worries that escalating price competition would undermine the industry’s growth, which has been a bright spot in the mainland economy.