In the first half of April, more than 50 percent of the vehicles sold to individual consumers in China are new energy vehicles, exceeding the proportion of traditional vehicles for the first time, according to China Automobile Dealers Association, an social organization consisting of enterprises and institutions engaged in automobile trading industry.
Statistics showed that the sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China recorded 260,000 units from April 1 to April 14, up 32 percent year-on-year, with new energy vehicles' (NEVs) retail penetration rate reaching 50.39 percent, surpassing their fuel-powered counterparts for the first time.
The NEV industry in China has enjoyed exponential growth over the past two decades.
It took the NEV industry 10 years (from 2005 to 2015) to achieve a one percent market penetration rate. Though the penetration rate grew to five percent from 2016 to 2019, NEVs were far from dominating the market.
The watershed moment came in 2020 when China set a target to raise NEVs' market penetration rate to over 50 percent by 2035. Then came the explosive growth of the industry, with NEVs' penetration rate topping 14 percent in 2021, 27 percent in 2022 and 33 percent in 2023.
Experts pointed out that with the ever-growing market penetration rate of NEVs comes the boom in industries offering key NEV components such as batteries, electric motors and electric control systems and the construction of charging facilities. All these will certainly drive the transformation and upgrade of China's manufacturing industry.
NEVs overtake traditional vehicles for first time in retail sales in China
Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to France marks a pivotal moment for strengthening Sino-French strategic cooperation amid global tensions, according to Pascal Boniface, founder of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.
From May 5 to 10, Xi will tour Europe, including stops in France, Serbia, and Hungary -- his first European visit in five years.
During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Paris, Boniface shared his perspectives on the importance of this visit.
"It's a very important visit, because, as you have mentioned, President Xi has not visited Europe for the last five years due to COVID-19. And it's a very important period of time due to many wars: the wars between Russia and Ukraine, the war in Gaza between Palestinians and Israelis. I think it's a very important time to enhance the cooperation, strategic cooperation between France and China, and to think about the way we could together try to ease the tension and to make progress towards peace," Boniface explained.
Boniface also discussed the potential impact of Xi's visit on Sino-French relations, emphasizing that it provides a platform for Xi to articulate Chinese policies to the French people.
"Because President Xi will be seen by most of the French people and will read important speeches, so he could elaborate Chinese policy and present its policy to the French people. It is good to have a visit, because it will be in the spotlight for two days, or even before by the fact, because we have begun to speak about the Chinese president's visit since now. So it's a very good way. And I think we need to have regular visits, regular meetings between our two leaders," Boniface noted.
Regarding Europe's strategic autonomy -- a policy endorsed by French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to China last year -- Boniface stressed the significant work still required for France to achieve this goal without compromising its commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
"To be frank, many of French people share this view, but not too many people inside Europe. So it's really a work in progress, because most European countries are dedicated to American umbrella, strategic umbrella. And so, for some of them, most of them, to be frank, the strategic autonomy of Europe could be a way to be separated from the USA. It's not the case, so we have to work a little bit more to convince our partners. But we could have strategic autonomy without leaving NATO," Boniface said.
Expert highlights significance of President Xi's upcoming visit to France
