Hongkongers rush to showrooms as EV tax breaks end, ‘quotas’ sell for HK$60,000

Hong Kong’s decision to end tax breaks for private electric cars has sparked a rush to the showrooms, with some residents even selling their eligibility for the incentive scheme. A car dealer told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that sales had surged by a factor of 17, adding that one customer broke into tears just after midnight, fearing he had missed the registration deadline. “Last night there were many people … there was a queue at one point,” said Eric Wong Ngai-lik, the Hong Kong dealer for electric vehicle (EV) brands MG and GAC Aion. “One customer arrived at our showroom after midnight and became very emotional, thinking he was no longer eligible. But the issue was resolved after we explained he would still qualify as long as he bought an in-stock vehicle before March 31.” On Thursday, lawmaker Adrian Pedro Ho King-hong of the New People’s Party pointed to the public backlash over the decision to end the tax concession at a Legislative Council meeting. Ho expressed concern that EV sales could fall and urged the government to regularly review the policy. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced in his budget address on Wednesday that from April 1, the government will scrap first registration tax (FRT) concessions for private electric cars, including the “One-for-One Replacement Scheme”. The scheme offers car owners a higher FRT concession of up to HK$172,500 (US$22,056) when they scrap and deregister an eligible older private car in exchange for a new electric car purchase. On Wednesday, Chan said about 70 per cent of newly registered cars in Hong Kong were electric vehicles and the need for the concession no longer existed. “From a modest variety of electric vehicles with higher prices to a larger variety of models with heightened comfort and better features, and a steady drop in prices, we believe electric cars have become competitive enough,” he said. Wong said sales had surged seventeenfold across his 12 stores on Wednesday, jumping from an average of 20 cars a day to about 340 by midnight. He noted that many customers were confused about when the concessions would expire and feared that buying an EV after Wednesday night would make them ineligible. “Our staff only got off work at 3am,” he added. Wong said the surge in customers was driven by “unclear information” released to the public about how the scheme would wind down. One resident, age 60, rushed to purchase a BYD EV on Thursday evening at the company’s Wan Chai showroom with his 57-year-old wife. “Even sweeteners like these will be gone, it’s really bleak to be middle class in Hong Kong,” he said. “The [end of the scheme] really impacted us … honestly, with the economy being so bad, we thought we could wait longer before changing our car,” his wife said. Under the government policy, buyers can still buy from available stock before March 31 to be eligible for the concession. But orders for cars arriving later, by February 2027 at the latest, should have been placed on or before February 25, the day of the budget announcement. Some car owners turned to social media after the budget announcement, offering to sell their eligibility for the tax breaks – either stand-alone or bundled with an older private car – for HK$25,000 to HK$60,000. The price was about HK$16,000 prior to the announcement. Others complained the prices for these “quotas,” as they are known locally, were unreasonably high. “[People] on Facebook are raising prices to HK$40,000 or HK$50,000,’ one user said. A Facebook group dedicated to the replacement scheme now has about 950 members. Ringo Lee Yiu-pui, governor and honorary life president of the Hong Kong, China Automobile Association, said it was risky to buy a car just for the purpose of getting the tax break. A car seller would need to help transfer ownership to the new EV buyer, Lee said, adding: “If problems arise, it could be troublesome, and you’ve already paid for the ‘quota’.” The industry is predicting a 40 per cent drop in EV sales once the tax breaks end. “Maybe after four to five months, [we can] check the electric vehicle prices offered by car factories, whether there would be a huge price cut. Most of us aren’t very optimistic about this year,” Lee said, adding that any price drop would depend on whether car manufacturers were confident about Hong Kong’s market. According to the Environment and Ecology Bureau, the practice of transferring the eligibility, or “quota”, remains “consistent with the scheme’s objectives” and was not illegal, but the public should be mindful of the risks involved and verify all documentation. The FRT concession for electric commercial vehicles, electric motorcycles and electric motor tricycles will remain fully waived until the end of March 2028. Additional reporting by Matthew Cheng

Hongkongers rush to showrooms as EV tax breaks end, ‘quotas’ sell for HK$60,000

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}EV car dealer says sales surged seventeenfold across 12 stores on Wednesday, jumping from daily average of 20 cars to about 340 by midnight

EV car dealer says sales surged seventeenfold across 12 stores on Wednesday, jumping from daily average of 20 cars to about 340 by midnight