Peter Wells, Director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University spoke to CGTN Europe about China's EV market.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Sales of Chinese new energy vehicles, including both fully electric and plug-in hybrids, were supercharged in 2024.
00:08Cherry Group saw well over half a million units sold across the year, representing a year-on-year increase of 233%.
00:17How about that? Sales of Serra's automotive vehicles also went into overdrive, with around 400,000 units sold,
00:25powering a rise of, I think that's 183%. These figures are extraordinary, aren't they?
00:31Ark Fox also saw its yearly numbers jump, with nearly 100,000 units sold. That's an increase, by the way, of 170%.
00:41Let's talk to Peter Wells, the director of the Centre for Automotive Research at Cardiff University.
00:49Peter, welcome back. Happy New Year, etc. Give us an overview of this, then.
00:53What do you make of the overall sales of China's NEVs in 2024?
00:59Well, it's been a tremendous year, obviously, for the industry, particularly in China, and you did highlight some really quite astonishing figures.
01:08But, I mean, that in itself should give us pause for thought, I think, because what we see here is still an immense amount of volatility.
01:17And when you're given that much turbulence in the market, in the competition between the different companies,
01:24I think it shows you that there's not a very settled picture going forward.
01:29Give us your forecast, then. I mean, do you think this momentum can or is likely to continue in this new year?
01:38I do think it will continue, for sure. I do see that 2025 will continue to be a good year for electric vehicle sales in China,
01:46and for many of those producers of those electric vehicles. However, again, I think some caution is needed here.
01:54There is still, I think, an overcapacity in terms of production in that market.
01:59And as you alluded to in some of your previous reports there, the global situation is of increasing concern.
02:07We see a range of different tariffs and barriers being put in place, both in North America and in Europe,
02:14which will impact upon the Chinese automotive industry quite significantly.
02:19I mean, the EV market, as you say, remains highly competitive.
02:23It looks to me like the smaller players are struggling somewhat amid price wars.
02:28I mean, just how challenging is it for these smaller companies to even survive?
02:34Well, I do expect to see quite a lot of consolidation.
02:37And that might mean, actually, that quite a few of those smaller players don't exactly disappear,
02:42but they get folded into some other groups as those groups grow and expand.
02:47But not only are there too many producers, there's too many brands.
02:52And this proliferation of brands in the market is just making things even more difficult,
02:57not only for the smaller players, but for those medium and larger players as well.
03:01So it's not just about manufacturing capacity.
03:04It's about rationalizing those distribution and sales networks and trying to get some sort of economies of scale.
03:10I'm not convinced that very many of these companies are significantly profitable.
03:15And that's got to be a concern.
03:17You can't just keep throwing money at this industry and hope to survive.
03:21Peter, good to see you. Thank you for that.
03:23Peter Wells, director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University.