With 400,000 vehicles damaged by flooding in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, consumer demand for replacement vehicles is attracting the attention of car companies, including Nio.

Between July 20 and Aug. 31, consumers in Henan province who pay a deposit for an Nio model can enjoy a 3-year interest-free benefit of RMB 300,000 ($46,425) and down payments as low as 15 percent, eoo.com.cn quoted the company as saying Tuesday.

Other consumers who currently buy Nio vehicles with installment payments have to pay an annualized interest rate of 2.99 percent for three years.

For consumers whose vehicles were damaged in the flood, they will receive an additional one-year "Service Free" benefit if they trade in their old vehicles for Nio vehicles.

No other car companies have yet announced plans to offer discounted purchase benefits to customers in Zhengzhou.

Geely is discussing whether to introduce such benefits, said Jiang Teng, head of the market research center at Geely Holding Group Automobile Sales Co, as quoted in the report.

The Zhengzhou government introduced a policy to encourage the purchase of new energy vehicles on July 29 in response to demand from some car owners to buy new vehicles.

Owners of local-licensed vehicles in Zhengzhou that were damaged and scrapped during the floods can receive a basic subsidy of RMB 5,000 if they buy a new vehicle.

In addition, if their scrapped vehicles are 0-3 years old, they can get an additional RMB 10,000 subsidy when purchasing a new energy vehicle.

If the vehicle is 3-6 years old, the subsidy is RMB 8,000, and RMB 5,000 for vehicles over 6 years old.

As of July 6, 2021, Zhengzhou has over 4.9 million motor vehicles, but only 121,100 new energy vehicles, accounting for only 2.47 percent of its vehicle fleet.

It is worth noting that most of these new energy vehicles are used for ride-hailing vehicles or cabs.

(Photo source: CnEVPost)