China to boost car renewal campaign with increased subsidies, simpler process

China’s Ministry of Commerce and six other government departments released an announcement on Friday about upgrading the national car renewal process, vowing to provide higher subsidies and a simpler application process, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

The subsidy for consumers who scrap old cars and buy new ones will be increased to 20,000 yuan for purchasing a new-energy vehicle (NEV) and 15,000 yuan for a fuel vehicle, according to the announcement. The previous subsidy levels were 10,000 yuan for NEVs and 7,000 yuan for fuel vehicles. 

The review and subsidy allocation process for scrapping cars and renewal will also be optimized, and local governments will be asked to issue detailed action plans.  

China launched the car trade-in and renewal process on April 24 this year, in a bid to boost domestic consumption.  

Xu Xingfeng, an official with the Ministry of Commerce, said that as of June 25, the ministry has received about 113,000 applications for car trade-in and renewal subsidies and the application volume has seen an accelerating growth trend. 

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that in July, NEV production stood at 984,000 units, up 22.3 percent year-on-year, while sales of NEVs totaled 991,000 units, up 27 percent on a yearly basis. 

The domestic monthly retail penetration rate of NEVs reached 51.1 percent in July, which means that in China, the majority of consumers opted for NEVs when purchasing passenger cars, according to statistics released by the China Passenger Car Association on August 8, 2024.