China’s car sales expect slow growth in 2025
China’s car sales sustained the rising path in 2024, as sales of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids reached an all-time high in the world’s auto market, reported INQUIRER Mobility.
China’s car sales sustained an increasing path in 2024. (Source: freepik)
Record high in China’s car sales 2024
In November 2024, China accounted for 41% of the world’s automobile sales, with about 3.3 million vehicles sold.
China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) stated that almost 11 million new energy vehicles (NEVs) were sold in 2024, with a year-on-year increase of 40.7%. NEVs sales accounted for 47.6% of all car sales in 2024.
The outstanding growth of car sales in China also benefit local brands such as BYD, Geely and Xiaomi. It also benefited Tesla, whose China sales hit a record high in 2024.
Other foreign automakers such as General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen continued to lose ground to local rivals, however, with many of them struggling to sustain effective capacity usage at their Chinese plants.
Chinese government subsidy for greener vehicles
Despite a fierce price war in global car market, Chinese government-subsidized trade-ins for greener vehicles promotes the increasing demand for NEVs.
More than 6.6 million cars sold in 2024 benefited from government subsidies. Over 60% of the subsidized purchases went to NEVs, per official data.
The authorities announced recently an extension of the auto trade-in subsidies into 2025 as part of an expanded consumer trade-in scheme to revive economic growth.
China’s car export expected to grow in 2025
In 2024, China’s vehicle exports achieved a 19.3% increase – exports of EVs fell 10.4% while plug-in hybrid exports were up 190%.
China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) forecasted that China’s vehicle exports to grow 5.8% to 6.2 million units in 2025. Sales growth for NEVs, including EVs and plug-in hybrids, is expected to reach 24.4% in 2025, compared to 35.5% in 2024.
Xu Haidong, CAAM official, said that an extension of auto trade-in subsidies into 2025 is viewed as one of the biggest boons for growth, while weak domestic demand, fierce competition and mounting external pressure are poised to have jarring effects on the auto market.
