China 2023. 2-Wheeler Market Declines As Government Cut EV Incentives

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Voge500
Voge500

Chinese Motorcycles Market lost volume in 2023 again. Total sales have been 17.0 million, down 2.2% vs the correspondent period last year. Yadea is market leader, although a sharp lost.

Chinese Motorcycles Industry Trend and Perspectives

Chinese 2-Wheelers market disappointed again in 2023, after the decline reported in the previous.

Reasons of disappointing are not in the total market volume, which are declining although near highest level, but in the reasons behind the fall: electric vehicles.

The market was disappointing already in the first half, although total sales were a little higher than last year. Indeed, last year the industry was hit by “zero-covid” strategy and by short supply in the raw material, while no specific issues were in place this year and expectations were for a rebound in customer demand.

Total sales in 2023 have been 17.0 million, down 2.2% vs the correspondent period last year.

As anticipated, the surprise is not in the decline, anyhow higher than expected, even in a Chinese economic environment less positive than few years ago, but the reasons behind this decline.

While traditional manufacturers are selling in line with the past or moderately improving, the top EV specialist, starting from Yadea and Niu Tech, are reporting a unexpected and deep decline, dragging down the entire industry. Electric vehicles sales are actually down over 20% year-on-year.

Following the rapid development of electric vehicles in the 2015-2021 period, sustained by strong government incentives for manufacturers, the new policy has impacted hardly the market.

Indeed, the incentive scheme was not really focused on middle terms, while on supporting the growth of a national EV industry, able to dominate not just the domestic market, but the globe. Incentive did not care about product contents, so a kick-scooter or a supersport motorcycles could benefit in the same way.

Then, metropolitan areas started to ban the risky use of kick-scooter and the national/local incentives have been reduced (even assuming the the trend was ahead of the target, having the EV gained over half of 2W market already in 2020). 

Now, we are not only assisting at the sharp decline of EV sales in the domestic market, due to the less competitiveness of EV models versus the ICE models, having excluded the incentives, but even to the fall of export, hitting other markets, like the European, where Chinese were leader thanks to the unrivalled price offered on their models.