China's EV Sales Mirage Exposed

EV plays Neta and Zeekr apparently pulled a fast one on their sales figures in China? Reuters dug up internal documents showing Neta quietly booked over 60 000 cars as sold by insuring and registering them before any customer ever drove off.

Zeekr ZK, the premium arm of Geely, played the same game late last year in Xiamen. They teamed up with a state?owned dealer to lock in registrations early and blitz through hefty monthly targets.

The industry is calling this the zero?mileage trick because the cars hit the road with no miles on the odometer. It lets brands inflate their delivery stats without actually moving vehicles into buyers' hands.

Beijing isn't having it anymore. The auto ministry is set to ban any car from being resold within six months of its first registration. That should shut down the loophole for good.

If this ban sticks, expect automaker results to wobble as they shift from phantom bookings to real customer demand. Companies that relied on the loophole could face fines, licensing headaches or a hit to investor confidence.

Now we'll see which EV makers can pivot to honest numbers and which get tripped up by this new crackdown.