(Yicai Global) Jan. 13 -- More new energy vehicles were sold in China last year than in 2019, despite a sluggish start, after sales increased throughout the second half.

NEV sales in the country rose 10.9 percent to 1.37 million in 2020, according to data the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released today.

That vastly exceeded the industry’s initial expectation of about 1.1 million. The outlook for last year had been downbeat in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and after the government began phasing out subsidies to the sector from November 2019.

The CAAM has kicked off this year with a positive note, forecasting annual NEV sales to increase 40 percent to 1.8 million.

Last month, overall NEV sales gained 49.5 percent from a year earlier to 248,000. Passenger car sales jumped 76.9 percent to 226,000, while the figure for commercial vehicles fell 41.4 percent to 22,000.

Editor: Ben Armour, Xiao Yi, Peter Thomas