China has achieved a milestone of producing 20 million new energy vehicles (NEVs), with the latest one rolling off the assembly line on Monday in Guangzhou City, south China's Guangdong Province.

The launch of the country's 20 millionth NEV "is of historical significance and the best gift for the 70th anniversary of the Chinese automobile industry," which produced the first NEV in 1995, Xin Guobin, vice minister of Industry and Information Technology, said at the offline ceremony.

Xin said NEVs are the primary focus in transforming, upgrading and greening the global automobile industry and the strategic choice for the high-quality development of China's automobile industry.

The production of 20 million units shows that China's NEVs have entered a new stage of large-scale, global and high-quality development based on industrialization and marketization and are becoming an important part of the modern industrial system supported by the real economy, said Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary general of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

A world-leading market size

The landmark 20 million figure demonstrates the country's overall growth in the industry.

In September 2020, the cumulative production nationwide exceeded 5 million units, achieving the goal put forward in the Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2012-2020). In February 2022, the number exceeded 10 million, and on July 3, 2023, it reached 20 million.

"Achieving the second 10 million NEVs took only one year and five months," said Fu.

Last year, China's full-year sales of NEVs totaled 6.88 million, increasing the market share to 25.6 percent and accounting for more than 60 percent of global sales. It exported 679,000 NEVs, a 120 percent increase year on year.

Among the top 10 enterprises in global NEV sales last year, three were from China, according to CAAM.

The CAAM statistics also show that in the first five months of this year, the production and sales of the country's NEVs were 3.005 million and 2.94 million, respectively, making a year-on-year growth of 45.1 percent and 46.8 percent. The nationwide penetration rate of new NEVs accounted for 27.7 percent.

China's self-owned brands have shown robust momentum.

BYD, one of the country's leading NEV manufacturers, exceeded 250,000 units in sales for the first time in the past June, with a cumulative sales volume of 1.25 million units in the first half of the year. Guangzhou Automobile's AION achieved sales of 45,013 units in June, an 86.7 percent year-on-year increase. NEV startup Li Auto delivered over 30,000 vehicles in a single month for the first time, with a significant year-on-year increase of 150.1 percent.

Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, believes that Chinese domestic brands have a strong position in the NEV market.

Cui said these enterprises have gained advantage and technological advantage in the world's automotive component system and will play an important leading role in driving the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry and the automotive industry chain.