Technicians assemble an electric logistics vehicle in a plant in Changxing county, East China's Zhejiang Province. New-energy vehicle production has become a pillar industry for the county, where 60 firms participated in NEV-related business operations with a total capacity of 30.55 billion yuan ($4.49 billion) in 2017. Photo: VCG

 The new-energy vehicle (NEV) market in China continued to rebound in May thanks to the nation's effective control of the coronavirus and steady release of auto consumption demand.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed Thursday that a total of 82,000 units of NEVs were sold in May, down 23.5 percent year-on-year, but an increase of 9,000 units compared with April. 

NEV output also climbed in May reaching 84,000 units as more manufacturing facilities have resumed their operation; the output was still a decrease of 25.8 percent from a year earlier. In April, the output stood at 80,000 units.

According to a survey by the CAAM, as of Thursday, 204 manufacturing bases of 23 surveyed auto firms have realized full resumption.

"The month-on-month increase rate shows steady and sound growth of the domestic NEV market after the COVID-19 pandemic," Mei Songlin, a senior auto industry analyst, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"The sales in May have even surpassed those of January, meaning the NEV market has returned to the level before the outbreak of the coronavirus," said Mei.

"Such growth is mainly market-driven and can be sustainable," he added, even though NEV output and sales have not reached the level from the same period in 2019.

It is not likely that there will be explosive growth of the NEV market, according to the CAAM, given that automakers are still in the process of understanding and adapting to policies, adjusting products through scale and other means and adapting to consumer needs.

Mei forecast that positive growth of NEV sales can be expected in the month of July as China's NEV sales started to show a significant drop in mid-2019 after the subsidies were cut. Thus that month has a lower base compared with the first half of the year.

For the full year of 2020, Mei said it is expected that NEV sales could be the same as 2019.

China saw the first decline of the NEV market in 2019 when sales dropped 4 percent year-on-year to about 1.2 million units.

For the overall auto market, China recovered in May with a 1.8 percent increase, ending 11 months of decline. Data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed on Monday that sales of passenger cars reached 1.609 million units last month.

"China's auto market has greater room for development and potential, and consumption demand is still strong," Gao Feng, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce, said Thursday.

As domestic production has been restored and various aid relief policies have achieved results, China's automobile consumption will maintain a steadily recovering trend, said Gao.