Auto industry shifts up a gear as business slowly resumes

New energy vehicles

The sector of NEVs, including electric cars and plug-in hybrids, have continued their momentum.

Carmakers sold 447,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrids in May, up 105.2 percent year-on-year and 49.6 percent from April.

Tesla's Shanghai plant produced 33,544 vehicles in May, up 212 percent from April, said the China Passenger Car Association on Thursday.

Sales for the month reached 32,165 units, including 22,340 for export. In April, Tesla's sales stood at 1,512 units, and none were exported.

Tesla said its Shanghai plant resumed production in late April with the help of local authorities and more than 40,000 vehicles have since rolled off the assembly line.

The plant's production has reached"100 percent" of its capacity, showing the "resilience of Chinese manufacturing", said the carmaker in a statement.

CPCA statistics showed that 13 NEV carmakers saw their sales exceed 10,000 units in May.

Of them, China's BYD came on top. It sold 114,183 electric cars and plug-in hybrids last month, up 152.8 percent year-on-year.

NEV startups also performed well.

William Li, founder and CEO of New York-listed Nio said its production has been basically restored in June so it will speed up deliveries this month.

He expects Nio's sales in the second quarter to reach 23,000 to 25,000 units. Deliveries of two new models, the ET5 sedan and the ES7 SUV, are scheduled to start in September and August, respectively.

In total, China's NEV market is expected to total 5 million this year, up from 3.5 million in 2021, according to the CAAM.