China's retail penetration of NEVs was 47.67 percent in the March 1-24 period.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sales so far this month have rebounded significantly from the previous month, as auto sales begin to recover from the effects of the Chinese New Year holiday.

Retail sales of passenger NEVs in China totaled 490,000 units in the March 1-24 period, up 39 percent from a year earlier and up 84 percent from a month earlier, according to data released today by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

So far this year, cumulative retail sales of passenger NEVs in China totaled 1.55 million units, up 38 percent from the same period last year.

Wholesale sales of China's passenger NEVs from March 1-24 were 508,000 units, up 33 percent from the same period last year and up 110 percent from the same period in February, according to the CPCA.

Cumulative wholesale sales of China's passenger NEVs so far this year totaled 1.644 million units, up 30 percent from a year earlier.

From March 1-24, China's retail sales of all passenger vehicles were 1.028 million units, up 11 percent compared with the same period last year and up 25 percent from the same period last month.

So far this year, cumulative retail sales of all passenger vehicles in China totaled 4.17 million units, up 16 percent year-on-year.

This means that China's NEV retail penetration rate was 47.67 percent in the March 1-24 period and 37.17 percent year-to-date.

China's NEV penetration has increased rapidly over the past few years, reaching 40.5 percent in November last year, exceeding 40 percent for the first time. In December last year, NEV penetration continued above 40 percent at 40.1 percent.

However, in January and February, the figure dropped to 33.0 percent and 35.2 percent, respectively, mainly due to seasonal factors. February 10-17 was the 2024 Chinese New Year holiday.

In the first week of March -- March 1-10, average daily retail sales of passenger cars in China were 35,490, up 4 percent year-on-year but down 4 percent from the same period in February.

In the second week of March -- March 11-17, average daily retail sales of passenger cars in China were 49,045, up 24 percent year-on-year and up 92 percent from the same period in February.

In the third week of March -- March 18-24, average daily retail sales of passenger cars in China were 47,128, up 6 percent year-on-year and up 21 percent from the same period in February.

During March 1-24, wholesale sales of all passenger cars were 1.207 million units, up 17 percent from a year earlier and up 82 percent from the same period last month.

Cumulative wholesale sales of all passenger cars so far this year amounted to 4.607 million units, up 13 percent year-on-year.

From March 1-10, average daily wholesale sales of passenger cars in China were 35,705 units, down 2 percent from the same period last year, but up 50 percent from the same period last month.

From March 11-17, average daily wholesale sales of passenger cars in China were 58,764 units, up 38 percent from a year earlier and up 201 percent from a month earlier, a downward revision from the 67,335 units reported by the CPCA last week.

During March 18-24, average daily wholesale sales of passenger cars in China were 62,728 units, up 19 percent compared with the same period last year and up 53 percent from the same period last month.

China EV sales for week ending Mar 24: Nio 3,000, Xpeng 2,500, Li Auto 7,000, Tesla 13,700