Gov’t push for EVs yet to show significant results

The local automobile sector continued to grow slightly last year, presenting an increase year-on-year of just 0.92% when compared to the year 2022, statistics from the Transport Bureau (DSAT) show.

At the end of last year, there were a total of 251,867 motorized vehicles registered in Macau, 2,286 more than at the end of 2022.

From the almost 252,000 vehicles registered in Macau, the Electric Vehicles (EVs), including those that possess petrol-powered generators for extended autonomy, represented only 3.23% of the total (8,131 vehicles), showing that the push from the government for the replacement of fossil fuel-powered vehicles for EVs is still a long way off producing significant results.

According to DSAT there are currently homologated in Macau 379 different EV car models (including heavy-duty vehicles) from 72 different brands, and in addition another 114 models from 40 brands of motorcycles.

The brand that has the most homologations is Tesla with 44 different models and versions, followed by BMW with 28, BYD with 22, and Mercedes Benz with 21. Of the two-wheeled vehicles, the brand holding the largest number of homologations is Ninebot with 19 models and versions, followed by NIU with 14 and BlueShark and Wuyang-Honda both with 6.

More detailed statistics from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) show that from the 11,974 new vehicles registered in 2023, a large majority were made in Japan (3,673) followed by those made in mainland China (3,232) and Taiwan (2,996).

In January this year, a total of 1,324 vehicles were registered, a significantly higher number than in the same month last year (784).

In the first month of this year, Japan continued to lead in terms of the place of origin of most of the vehicles registered in Macau (490), but mainland China (455) followed closely. This happened mostly due to an increase in the sales, early this year, of EVs (430), which in January represented some 32.48% of all new vehicles registered.

If such a trend continues during the upcoming months, 2024 will likely be the year that marks a significant change in the local automobile sector panorama.

The government is also contributing to the growth of EV numbers, owing a total of 110 EVs at the end of 2023. Among these are 71 light cars, 1 heavy vehicle, and 38 motorcycles.

Roads and Carparks full

According to the same statistics published by DSAT, at the end of last year, 49,351 people in Macau owned two or more private vehicles (including cars and motorcycles). The figure shows that a large percentage of the vehicles registered in Macau are owned by the same people.

Concurrently DSAT said that there is one person who owns a total of 112 vehicles in Macau, while another person owns as many as 87.

In a top 10 ranking organized by the bureau, it is also possible to see that 10 different people in Macau own 35 or more vehicles. Note that this ranking only refers to individuals and not companies, entities, or institutions and only applies to private-use vehicles.

In total, the 10 people with the most vehicles under their belt own as many as 567 vehicles between them.