Cathay Pacific Haitong: NEV Insurance Market Continues to Expand and Maintain Industry's “Gain” Rating
The Zhitong Finance App learned that Cathay Pacific Haitong released a research report saying that China's NEV insurance premium scale is currently growing rapidly. Although the overall industry is facing losses, the comprehensive cost ratio has shown a continuous improvement trend. It is expected that there is plenty of room for premium growth in the next few years, and profit levels are expected to improve further. As a leading insurance company in China, China Financial Insurance has accumulated deep auto insurance resources, channels and technical advantages. In 2025, China Financial Insurance's NEV insurance market share will exceed 30%, and it is expected to take the lead in achieving stable profits. Maintaining the industry's “gain” rating, individual stocks recommend China Financial Insurance (02328).
Cathay Pacific Haitong's main views are as follows:
China's NEV insurance premium scale continues to rise, but the industry is facing continuous losses
Domestic NEV ownership continues to rise, driving the rapid expansion of the NEV insurance market. In 2025, the premium scale of the industry reached 190 billion yuan, an increase of 34.8% over the previous year. Currently, NEV insurance relies on exclusive provisions to add coverage for three-electric systems and charging scenarios, forming a risk insurance system different from traditional fuel vehicle insurance. However, new energy vehicles have problems such as high insurance rates and high maintenance costs for three-electric systems. Combined, insurance companies' premium pricing fails to fully cover risk costs, and the industry is showing continuous losses.
China's NEV insurance has relatively limited room for price adjustments under supervision and guidance. Highly complex damage determination and maintenance drive up overall compensation
China's NEV insurance pre-sale terms and pricing implement unified industry standards. Insurers have limited room for independent price adjustments, making it difficult to simply improve rate adequacy by reducing insurance liability or raising premiums; sales channels during sales are skewed towards online internet platforms and car companies' consignment sales, and the influence of traditional offline agency channels weakens; overall NEV sales costs are lower than traditional car insurance; after sales are affected by technical and qualification barriers and component costs, and NEV is difficult to determine and maintain, and claim costs are high.
The design and pricing of US insurance company terms is easier to achieve full risk pricing, and the differences between the sales and after-sales stages and our country are not obvious
The market-based characteristics of new energy vehicle insurance in the US are remarkable. Insurers have greater authority to design and price terms, can flexibly adjust rates to match risk costs, and have stronger profit adjustment capabilities. New energy vehicle insurance in China and the US is basically the same in terms of the types of sales channels during sales and after-sales claims service procedures. Both countries face operating pressure due to complicated vehicle damage determination and high maintenance costs.
There is plenty of room for NEV insurance premiums to grow, and multiple internal and external benefits are expected to further improve industry profits
The compound growth rate of China's NEV insurance premiums is expected to reach 14.1% from 2026 to 2030, and the market size will increase sufficiently. At the same time, with the spread of intelligent driving technology, the standardization of the maintenance market, and the continuous improvement of pricing mechanisms for insurers, it is expected that the industry's insurance rate and payment pressure will gradually ease, and profits are expected to improve further.
Risk warning: The NEV maintenance cost improvement process falls short of expectations; there is some uncertainty in the external policy environment.