At the turn of the century, China’s automotive market, though large, was rarely mentioned in the same breath as the traditional world-leading markets of Europe and North America. Littered with ‘doppelgangers’ of popular western models, innovation appeared minimal.
Today, however, this is no longer the case: in 2021, figures from the China Passenger Car Association claim more than three million new energy vehicles (NEV)—this includes battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs)—were sold, with 423,000 BEVs sold in December alone. In the US from January to October, just under 380,000 such units were sold.
