By Li Panpan

(JW Insights) Aug 10 -- China's output of pure electric vehicles numbered 510,000 in July, up by 16.5% year-on-year and 2% month-on-month. Their wholesale numbered 496,000, a year-on-year increase of 15.3% and a month-on-month decrease of 6.1%; Their retail sales numbered 421,000, up by 16.4% year on year and down by 6% month on month, according to China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on August 8.

Overall, the wholesale of new energy passenger vehicles in July reached 737,000, a year-on-year increase of 30.7% and a month-on-month decrease of 3.1%. A total of 4.279 million vehicles were wholesaled in the first seven months, a year-on-year increase of 41.2%.

In July, the new energy vehicle market retailed 641,000, a year-on-year increase of 31.9% and a month-on-month decrease of 3.6%. A total of 3.725 million vehicles have been retailed from January to July, a year-on-year increase of 36.3%.

The overall trend of new energy passenger car companies in July is strong, and BYD's pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars have strengthened its leading position in new energy brands; traditional car companies represented by Chang'an Automotive, SAIC, GAC Motor, and Geely have tenacious performance in the new energy sector in July, said CPCA.

The number of manufacturers whose wholesale exceeded 10,000 vehicles reached 15 in July, accounting for 88.1% of the total new energy passenger vehicles. The top five among them were BYD (261,105), Tesla China (64,285), GAC Aion (45,025), and Geely Automobile (41,014).

The retail share of Chinese NEV startups in July was 13.1%. Their year-on-year and month-on-month sales, such as Li Auto, Nio, and Leapmotor, are still relatively strong.

New energy vehicles are the key development of Chinese car companies, and the market competition is still unstable. In the second half of the year, car companies will focus more on improving product competitiveness than reducing prices to increase market size, said CPCA.