Luxury car sales have fallen in China as consumers, facing increasing pressure from a lagging economy, turn to cheaper electric vehicles.
Deliveries of luxury brands including Porsche and Ferrari fell drastically in the first quarter in China, a stark contrast to their performance in the same period last year. Porsche’s first-quarter deliveries fell 24% from a year earlier, while Ferrari’s shipments to China fell 25%. BMW and Mercedes-Benz sales also declined year-over-year, Wall Street Journal reported.
Disappointing first-quarter results for China’s luxury automakers partly reflect economic turmoil fueled by a struggling real estate sector. Economists have critical China is trying to right the ship because its approach focuses more on supporting production and exports than on consumer demand.
Poor demand has had an impact, but so far it has had a smaller impact on electric vehicles. About 1.03 million electric vehicles were sold in China in the first quarter, marking a slowdown from continued growth since the second quarter of 2023, according to government figures.
But even though growth was weaker than usual, electric vehicle sales still increased by 14.7% compared to last year. Sales of “new energy vehicles,” which include plug-in hybrids, jumped 5.7% year-on-year to 1.71 million in the first quarter. In the United States, sales of electric vehicles increased by 3%or around 270,000 vehicles, over the same period.
Thanks to price reductions brought about by the arrival of new local automakers, sales of electric vehicles continued to perform better in May. Major automakers such as the group backed by Warren Buffett BYD, Nioand the Seres Group experienced strong growth last month, Bloomberg reported. The Seres Group leads the pack by tripling its sales figures compared to the previous year. At the same time, Nio saw a 234% increase in May, while BYD sales jumped just over 25%.
While foreign brands have traditionally dominated vehicle sales in China, many domestic players have recently sought to capture a larger share of the market. Chinese automakers have together exceeded 50% of car sales in the country for the first time. first time in July. Ten years ago, French car manufacturers like Citroën, PeugeotAnd Renault They accounted for around 4% of China’s market share in total, but have now collapsed below 1%, Bloomberg. reported.
Earlier this year, You’re here CEO Elon Musk rented Chinese automakers are “the most competitive in the world” for their rapid growth.
