E-cars: Chinese e-car manufacturers report good sales figures

According to information from the Reuters news agency, Chinese electric car manufacturers Neta and Zeekr artificially inflated their sales figures to meet sales targets. According to the report published on Saturday, which is based on documents, dealers, and buyers, the companies took out insurance for the vehicles before they were sold to end customers. This allowed them to record sales early. Neta alone recorded the sale of more than 60,000 cars in this way between January 2023 and March 2024. This represented more than half of the sales reported during that period.

Geely's premium brand Zeekr is also said to have used this method at the end of 2024 through a major dealer in the city of Xiamen. Zeekr, Neta owner Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile, and dealer Xiamen C&D did not initially respond to requests for comment on Saturday. A spokesperson for parent company Geely denied a corresponding report in the Chinese newspaper China Securities Journal . The spokesperson declined to comment on Reuters' investigation. The practice of so-called "used cars with zero mileage" is a consequence of the brutal price war in the world's largest auto market, which is characterized by overcapacity.

Chinese state media and authorities have recently expressed concern about such practices. The government in Beijing has announced its intention to regulate "irrational" competition. According to a publication by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the Ministry of Industry plans to ban the resale of cars reported as sold within six months. Dealers complained about the pressure from manufacturers, according to the report. "The company's only message was: 'Just do it, everyone else is doing it,'" Reuters quoted a Neta dealer as saying.

Neta's owner, Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile, filed for bankruptcy protection in China last month, according to media reports.