As a strategic emerging industry in China, new energy vehicles (NEV) industry has developed rapidly in recent years under the strong support of national industrial policies. In order to observe the effect of financial subsidies on R & D activities of NEV companies in China, this paper cuts through the perspective of R & D intensity of enterprises. According to the micro panel data of 75 listed companies in China’s NEV industry chain from 2008 to 2016, empirical analysis shows that the financial subsidy has a positive effect on the R & D intensity of the NEV industry chain enterprises, and the financial subsidies are more obvious for the new energy vehicle core component manufacturing industry when considering the sub-sectors. In addition, some other factors that may affect China’s NEV industry have also been discussed. This puts forward some empirical evidence and policy recommendations for the direction of the country’s further subsidy policy for the promotion of NEV industry innovation.