Hubei highlights incentives to boost car sales

Hubei provincial government has formulated a set of measures in a bid to unleash consumers’ pent-up automobile consumption demands.

The government stressed an effective implementation of such preferential policies as extending the NEV subsidies and the exemption of vehicle purchase tax on NEVs for two years, and reducing or cancelling the value-added tax levied on used car sale, according to a document issued by the provincial government on May 29.

The events should be organized and launched to spur vehicle replacement and benefit farmers by bringing the automobiles to the countryside, the government said.

Besides, local authorities of eligible regions will be encouraged to offer subsidies to those consumers who sell or scrap a motor vehicle under the China Ⅳ national emission standards or below, and to the locally-registered automobile sales companies which purchase new vehicles that meet the China Ⅵ standards.

With the coronavirus pandemic abating, automobile sales have been swiftly rebounding in China. Aside from Hubei, such provinces and cities as Hainan, Hefei, Wuhan, Shanghai, Tianjin and Shaanxi also rolled out stimulus packages in May to boost car sales.

Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and the hardest-hit region amid the fight against coronavirus, announced in mid-May that consumers who buy PVs produced by Wuhan's local enterprises and have their vehicles locally licensed would be granted cash handouts. To be specific, those who buy and register fuel-powered PVs shall enjoy a subsidy equivalent to 3% of a vehicle’s original price at a maximum of 5,000 yuan ($702) per car, and NEV buyers will receive 10,000 yuan ($1,404) per car worth of subsidy. The incentive will be ended at the end of December 31, 2020.