Visitors watch a vehicle of Song PLUS by Chinese NEV manufacturer BYD during the 2024 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing, capital of China, May 4, 2024. The exhibition closed on Saturday. Photo: Xinhua

China's new-energy vehicle (NEV) sector is still on a robust upward trajectory, with industry insiders projecting production and sales both to exceed 10 million units by November this year, with sustained growth of 10-20 percent annually in the future.

Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said on Saturday that China's NEV production and sales will surpass 10 million units each by November, compared with 9.5 million units for all of 2023, cls.cn reported on Sunday.

This bullish forecast follows the sector's impressive performance in the first half of the year, a success that industry experts attributed to sustained strong domestic and international demand, despite trade protectionist suppression from some Western countries.

Experts said that as the industry shifts into a smart technology-driven era, the introduction of new technologies and products will supercharge upgrades across the entire NEV supply and value chains, further enhancing industry prosperity.

"This trend is also fueling rapid expansion in the upstream NEV supply chains, such as battery production and installation, highlighting the sector's development potential," Fu noted.

At the 2024 World EV & ES Battery Conference held on Sunday, Miao Wei, a national political advisor, said that NEV sales in China are expected to exceed 11 million units this year, with a 10-20 percent growth rate annually until domestic annual sales reach 20 million units.

Miao also projected that the penetration rate of NEVs will exceed 50 percent by 2026, meaning that a majority of consumers will opt for NEVs when purchasing passenger cars.

China's NEV market has greatly expanded in recent years thanks to innovation that lowers manufacturing costs and improves performance, Zhang Xiang, secretary-general of the International Intelligent Vehicle Engineering Association, told the Global Times on Sunday.