China’s electric car sales grow in 2024, as sales of gasoline cars plunge

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BEIJING (AP) — Sales of all types of electric vehicles rose more than 40% in China last year, while those of gasoline-powered automobiles plunged, industry data showed Monday.

A total of 31.4 million vehicles were sold last year in the world's biggest market by sales, up 4.5% compared from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported. Growth in sales outpaced production, which rose 3.7%.

China's exports of passenger cars jumped almost 20% in 2024, to almost 5 million vehicles. Out of that, exports of what China calls “new energy vehicles,” including battery EVs, fuel-cell cars and plug-in hybrids -- electric vehicles with a small gasoline-powered engine to back up the batteries -- reached 1.28 million. That was a 6.7% increase from 2023.

Domestically, sales of passenger cars rose 13.6% in December, driven in part by rebates for trade-ins, raising sales of all passenger cars in China by 3.1% for the year, to 22.6 million.

On Monday in Ottawa, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called for the Indian Act to be abolished. Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was open to working with First Nations to reform or repeal this law, calling it racist.

The act was created in 1876 and still controls Indian status, reserve lands and band governance. It’s understandable why many people want a better relationship.

But repealing a law and building a new relationship are not the same. What would replace the act’s protections? Who decides? How do governments ensure removing federal authority gives First Nations power while the Crown keeps its promises?

Manitoba has faced these questions before. In 1971, First Nations created a document called Wahbung: Our Tomorrows, in response to then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s white paper on assimilation. More than 45 years later, elders and knowledge keepers met at Turtle Lodge, north of Winnipeg, to continue the conversation. Manitobans Dave Courchene Sr. and his son, Dave Courchene Jr., are generational links to the broader movement, and their story should be part of this discussion.