Gasgoo Munich- Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), didn't mince words at a monthly sales briefing on July 8. He criticized the domestic push toward larger new energy vehicles, calling the trend "extremely bad."
His comments cut straight to the intensifying "big car fever" sweeping China's NEV market. Over the past two years, a host of brands have flooded the sector with large five- and six-seater models, sending sales of large SUVs soaring. Yet beneath that bustling surface, Cui sees deeper risks brewing.
Image Source: Shetu Website
In Cui's view, this shift is driven by serious institutional flaws.
Historically, traditional automakers approached large internal-combustion SUVs with caution, largely constrained by displacement taxes—bigger engines meant steeper levies. Today, however, tax standards for new energy vehicles remain flat regardless of weight or power, failing to curb the drift toward oversized models and excessive horsepower.
The fallout from this supersizing goes beyond wasted resources. A flood of large vehicles is straining urban infrastructure, worsening parking shortages and clogging narrow city streets. The industry is also plagued by product homogeneity and a "feature-stacking" competition. On top of that, the environmental cost—higher lifetime carbon emissions—cannot be ignored.
Cui proposes establishing a set of standards for economy vehicles. The goal is to encourage car ownership while using tax and energy management tools to rein in the push for ever-larger cars.
With new energy vehicle penetration rates climbing, the industry faces a pressing question: how to balance the demand for premium upgrades with the need to conserve resources and sustain urban capacity.
