China keeps 20 per cent sales target for home-grown electric cars by 2025, calling controversial industrial plan by another name
- Green vehicles will make up one in five automobiles on China’s roads by 2025, according to the State Council’s development plan for so-called new energy vehicles (NEVs) for 2021 to 2035
- That target is the same as the sales goal outlined four years ago in the Made in China 2025 industrial master plan
China’s planners are maintaining their bullish target to spur home-grown brands in the world’s biggest electric vehicle market as they repackaged a controversial industrial plan under a new guise, seizing the opportunity to keep factories churning while competitors lay idle amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Green vehicles – comprising pure electric cars, petroleum-electric hybrids and vehicles that run on fuel cells – will make up one in five automobiles on China’s roads by 2025, according to a development plan for so-called new energy vehicles (NEVs) for 2021 to 2035, released by the State Council. The government cabinet said the development guidelines published late on Monday were aimed at “boosting high-quality development of the industry.”
“The government has multiple leverages to boost electric vehicle sales, including public purchases, tax concession on EV, reduction on usage cost of EV, and increasing the cost of production and use for internal combustion engine cars,” wrote UOB Kay Hian (Hong Kong)’s analyst Ken Lee in a report, adding that China’s annualised sales growth could increase by 36 per cent between 2021 and 2025.
SCMP Infographics: Electric vehicles and Made in China 2025
The Made in China 2025 plan, first published in 2016, charted China’s ambitions to lead the world in 10 key areas of technology by the middle of the next decade, from 5G telecommunications to artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.
