*Overall car sales were up 4.5% yoy in September, with NEVs growing strongly;
*ICE cars sales slumped in January-September, in sharp contrast to NEVs;
*Over 60% of the trade-in subsidy applications were for NEVs.
Guangzhou (JLC), October 22, 2024 – China’s passenger car retail sales were up 4.5% year on year and 10.6% month on month in September, as the effect of the latest trade-in policies continued to kick in, China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said.
Retail sales of passenger cars rose to about 2.11 million units in September, the CPCA data showed.
New energy vehicles (NEVs) and internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, however, performed differently.
NEV sales surged 50.9% year on year and 9.6% month on month to 1.12 million units in September, driving the overall car sales, the data showed.
In contrast, sales of ICE cars were down some 22% year on year in September, reaching only 986,000 units.
This partly reflected a trend witnessed in the first nine months of 2024.
Diverging sales in January-September
Over the January-September period, NEVs have been the main growth driver.
NEV sales spiked 37.4% year on year to 7.13 million units in the first nine months of 2024, partly due to the trade-in policies, highlighting the trend of electrification of China’s car fleet.
In sharp contrast, ICE car sales dropped 16% year on year in the same period, the CPCA data showed, succumbing to higher cost-effectiveness and mature technology of NEVs.
Dragged down by weaker sales of ICE cars, China’s overall car sales grew only 2.2% in the first nine months, the data showed.
Policy wise, NEVs may benefit more from the trade-in programs announced earlier this year, as only some ICE car models with a displacement of no higher than 2.0 liter were covered in the government-backed schemes.
Over 60% of subsidy applications were for NEVs
The “car trade-in registration platform” of the Ministry of Commerce has already received over 1.27 million applications regarding the consumer subsidies as of October 7, State-run news agency Xinhua said.
This has driven new car sales worth over CNY160 billion, it said.
More than 60% of the applications were for NEVs, it added.
China stepped up its trade-in and equipment upgrade policies in July this year, offering up to CNY20,000 of subsidy to each eligible buyer who meets certain requirements of the government program, JLC previously reported. (see China steps up trade-in and equipment upgrade policy)
