GAC Group Chairman: NEV Penetration Below 20% in County Markets; Industry Forecasts Over 70% Nationwide by 2030

At the High-Level Forum on Intelligent and Electric Vehicle Development held on April 11, 2026, Feng Xingya, Party Secretary and Chairman of GAC Group, stated that the current penetration rate of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in county-level markets is below 20%, while market potential in first-tier cities is also rapidly expanding. He further emphasized that internationalization has become a critical battleground for automakers, requiring companies to compete effectively in both domestic and international markets. At the same forum, Su Bo, Vice Director of the Strategic Advisory Committee for Building China into a Manufacturing Power and former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), forecast that by 2030, NEVs will dominate China’s automotive market, with domestic penetration exceeding 70%. He added that China could achieve its goal of becoming a global leader in NEVs ahead of schedule by the end of the "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" period (2026–2030). According to data from the Passenger Car Association (CPCA), in March 2026, NEVs accounted for 51.5% of total passenger vehicle retail sales in China, up 0.3 percentage points year-over-year and rising 7 percentage points month-over-month. Among them, domestically branded NEVs reached a penetration rate of 73.5%, luxury brands stood at 33.9%, while mainstream joint-venture brands lagged significantly at just 6.2%.