Wenyi Zhang
Research expert covering Greater China
Passenger vehicle market in China - statistics & facts
As the country producing the most passenger cars in the world, the passenger car market for China is a key industry for the country. China is estimated to have produced over 21.41 million units of passenger cars in 2021, around 2.2 times more than the second-place holder Japan. The number of passenger cars in China has been growing steadily since the last decade, reaching almost 241.7 million in 2020. That year, around 19.7 million passenger vehicles were new registered, among which a vast majority were small passenger vehicles. Traditionally, majority of the vehicles produced in China catered for domestic demand, where only almost a few percent of the cars were produced for export. A large share of China's exported cars is destined for other parts of Asia because of their relatively more competitive price range.
The best-selling new energy passenger car brand in China was BYD, which was closely followed by SAIC-GM-Wuling, a joint venture between SAIC Motor, General Motors, and Liuzhou Wuling. In terms of the new energy passenger car model, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s battery-electric minivan, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV topped the list, with sales of about 395,450 units in 2021. Tesla’s two models (Model Y and Model 3) ranked second and third, with respective sales of 169,850 units and 150,890 units in that year.
Most popular types and brands
Partly related to the relatively smaller family sizes in China, the most popular type of passenger cars in China has been sedan for a long time, until recently surpassed by SUVs. As of January 2021, around 1.02 million units of sedans were sold in China, while 1.06 million units of SUVs were sold in the same month. Despite international car brands being more popular than domestic in general, Chinese brands dominated the market with over 44 percent of the market share in 2021. However, in terms of individual brands, two Volkswagen ventures, namely FAW-Volkswagen and Shanghai Volkswagen, have been the leading passenger car manufacturers in China, with a combined sales of three million passenger vehicles in 2021.Demand for new energy passenger cars surged
In 2021, new energy passenger vehicle sales in China hit a record high, with cumulative sales of 2.7 million passenger battery electric vehicles and 600,000 passenger plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Such growing demand for new energy passenger vehicles also continued into the first quarter of 2022. With the highest number of electric vehicles in use in the world, China has also made electric passenger vehicles a major export commodity. In particular, battery electric passenger cars, whose export volume reached about 500,000 units in 2021, accounted for 90 percent of the electric vehicle export volume and 31 percent of the total passenger car export volume for the year, respectively.The best-selling new energy passenger car brand in China was BYD, which was closely followed by SAIC-GM-Wuling, a joint venture between SAIC Motor, General Motors, and Liuzhou Wuling. In terms of the new energy passenger car model, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s battery-electric minivan, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV topped the list, with sales of about 395,450 units in 2021. Tesla’s two models (Model Y and Model 3) ranked second and third, with respective sales of 169,850 units and 150,890 units in that year.
