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China’s EV sales slide again amid fading incentives, weak demand and persistent price war
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Daniel Renin ShanghaiPublished: 3:00pm, 12 Aug 2026
Deliveries of electric vehicles (EVs) in China fell 3.9 per cent in July from a year earlier, extending their decline to a seventh consecutive month as fading government incentives and weaker consumer demand weighed on the market.
Domestic sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles last month also fell 5.8 per cent from June, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
“A bleak market outlook is likely to affect most small [EV] companies, as some of them will be forced to close down their businesses,” said Phate Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based industry data provider CnEVPost. “The grim reality is that all of the players may need to resort to price cuts to boost sales in the coming months.”
Overall car deliveries in mainland China, including petrol-powered vehicles and EVs, plunged in July by 20.9 per cent, year on year, to 1.46 million units, CPCA data showed. EVs accounted for 65.1 per cent of the total car sales last month.
Analysts have predicted a fresh round of price cuts, as nearly all carmakers have been trying to reduce inventory.
Between January and July, Chinese carmakers delivered a total of 5.67 million EVs to domestic customers, down 12.5 per cent from a year earlier, according to the CPCA.
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