On January 13, data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that in 2024, China's automobile production and sales both exceeded 31 million units for the second consecutive year, reaching 31.282 million and 31.436 million units respectively, up 3.7% and 4.5% year-on-year respectively. While setting new records, it has ranked first in the world for 16 consecutive years.
Among them, passenger car production and sales continued to grow, stabilizing the basic foundation of automobile consumption; the commercial vehicle market performed weakly, with production and sales falling short of expectations of 4 million vehicles; new energy vehicles continued to grow rapidly, with annual production and sales exceeding 10 million vehicles for the first time, with sales accounting for more than 40%; automobile exports reached a new level.
On November 17, 2024, at the Changan Automobile Complete Vehicle Distribution Center in Liangjiang New District, Chongqing, rows of new energy vehicles are ready to go.
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers pointed out that in 2024, the economic operation of the automobile industry will face difficulties such as high inventory and weak consumption, and both the supply side and the terminal will be under great pressure; in the third quarter, with the increase in policies, the terminal will show a good development trend; in the fourth quarter, the positive trend will continue, and monthly production and sales will show a high level. In December, automobile production and sales were 3.366 million and 3.489 million respectively, up 9.3% and 10.5% year-on-year respectively.
The passenger car segment will produce and sell 27.477 million and 27.563 million vehicles in 2024, up 5.2% and 5.8% year-on-year respectively. Domestic sales will reach 22.608 million vehicles, up 3.1% year-on-year; exports will reach 4.955 million vehicles, up 19.7% year-on-year.
In the passenger car segment, domestic sales of fuel vehicles reached 11.558 million units, down 17.4% year-on-year. The price range of 100,000-150,000 yuan saw the largest drop in fuel vehicles.
In 2024, the sales volume of Chinese-branded passenger cars reached 17.97 million units, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%, and the sales market share reached 65.2%, an increase of 9.2 percentage points year-on-year.
The increase in the market share of Chinese brands is largely due to the efforts in the new energy track. However, in the whole year, new energy passenger cars accounted for 48.9% of the domestic sales of passenger cars, and fuel passenger cars still accounted for the majority.
In 2024, the production and sales of new energy vehicles will reach 12.888 million and 12.866 million respectively, up 34.4% and 35.5% year-on-year respectively. The sales of new energy vehicles will reach 40.9% of the total sales of new vehicles, an increase of 9.3 percentage points from 2023. Among them, the sales of pure electric vehicles accounted for 60% of new energy vehicles, a decrease of 10.4 percentage points from last year; the sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 40% of new energy vehicles, an increase of 10.4 percentage points from last year. The rapid growth of plug-in hybrid vehicles has become a new driving force for the growth of new energy vehicles.
Since 2021, the export volume of Chinese auto companies has increased rapidly, becoming an important force driving the growth of China's total automobile production and sales. In 2024, the annual automobile exports will reach 5.859 million units, a year-on-year increase of 19.3%. In terms of vehicle types, passenger car exports will reach 4.955 million units, a year-on-year increase of 19.7%; commercial vehicle exports will reach 904,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 17.5%.
January 10, 2025, cars waiting to be shipped at the port terminal on the Longtan section of the Yangtze River in Nanjing, Jiangsu.
In 2024, among the top ten vehicle exporters, Chery exported 1.144 million vehicles, the largest number of exports; BYD exported 433,000 vehicles, with the fastest growth rate, a year-on-year increase of 71.8%.
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers pointed out that on January 8, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance issued the "Notice on Stepping up and expanding the implementation of large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in policies in 2025". As a series of policies are introduced and implemented, the policy combination effect will continue to be released, which will further release the potential of the automobile market.
