Auto industry pulls out stops to tackle slumping sales

Electric car subsidies cut again

The Ministry of Finance announced a cut in new energy vehicle subsidies in March, with those on some models almost halved. The ministry said the move aims to encourage high-quality development, with a focus on supporting technologically advanced products and phasing out uncompetitive ones, as the effect of scale emerges and costs fall, the ministry said.

But the subsidy cuts hurt sales of new energy vehicles in the country more than many had expected.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers expected their sales to fall in 2019, which would be the first time in a decade.

In the first 11 months, new energy vehicles sales totaled 1.04 million, up 1.3 percent from the same period last year.

China began offering the subsidies in 2009 and plans to withdraw all of them by the end of 2020.

It overtook the United States as the world's largest new energy vehicle market in 2015.