China Full Year 2012

Roewe E50

Hit has been said that the chinese car market is key to the success of the electric car, not just by the tremendous dimension of it, after all we are talking of a market with a whopping 15 million units sold in 2012, but also because the chinese government is interested in reducing the energy dependency on foreign oil and one way of doing so is betting in plug-in vehicles, but and this is a big but the government is even more interested in protecting the home grown product, so the Nissan Leaf's and Chevrolet Volt's of this world are sold in China like any other import, meaning a high tax on top of a already high price, which makes them pretty rare in China (We are talking dozens in a market of millions).

So, the home makers have the electric car market all to themselves, right?

Right, but the chinese EV market it's not that big. Until November 2012, the only chinese carmaker with plug-in models, BYD, had sold some 2.200 units of e6's and F3 DM's, leaving the chinese market only as the 7th largest in the world, behind smaller countries like Norway and the Netherlands.

But December came and not only the BYD e6 beat its monthly record at 512 cars sold, but the entrrance of a second chinese manufacturer in the market stirred things a bit, with the small Roewe E50 enjoying a great newcomers month with 238 sales, contributing for the chinese EV market to report a record month of 848 units sold and conquering the #3 position in the countries ranking, ahead of France and only behind Japan and the USA.

BYD Qin, to be launched this year

If this performance is repeated in the next months, and with the promised addition of new models it probably will, this could be one of the markets where the electric car growth will be more spectacular.

China	Dec	2012	%
BYD e6	512	1.690	53
BYD F3 DM	98	1.201	38
Rowe E50	238	238	7
Chevrolet Volt		18	1
Nissan Leaf		15	0
Volvo C30 Electric		15	0
TOTAL	848	3.177	100

Source: BSCB; Car News China