Beijing (Gasgoo)- By October 2024, as a series of new policies are introduced and the effects of previously implemented measures gradually become evident, positive factors driving economic recovery are accumulating, and China's economic outlook continues to improve. Automakers have accelerated production, and confidence among enterprises has strengthened.
In October, the Chinese government's trade-in incentives for vehicles had a noticeable impact on automobile consumption. Motor shows and promotional events have been widespread across regions, and the launch of new vehicle models has kept the market active, with monthly sales volume rising both year-on-year and month-on-month.
Specifically, China's passenger car market continues to improve due to various positive factors, while the commercial vehicle market remains relatively weak. However, new energy vehicle (NEV) sales and auto exports are still growing rapidly.
With the cumulative effect of these policies and the year-end sales promotional push from automakers and dealers, the country's consumer demand of automobiles is expected to stay strong, likely driving the market upward in the last two months of 2024.
In the tenth month of 2024, China's auto production and sales came in at 2.996 million and 3.053 million vehicles, respectively, which grew 7.2% and 8.7% from the previous month while climbing 3.6% and 7% from the previous year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
In the Jan.-Oct. period of this year, there were a total of 24.466 million vehicles produced across China, representing a 1.9% rise year-on-year. Meanwhile, the country's auto sales amounted to 24.624 million vehicles in the period, edging up 2.7% from a year ago.
In the past month, China's NEV production and sales both refreshed their respective record. Specifically, October production of NEVs stood at 1.463 million units, which surged 48% year over year. In the meantime, NEV sales zoomed up 49.6% in the past month to 1.43 million units. In other words, around 46.8% of the country's auto sales were made up by NEVs in October.
Among the NEVs sold last month, 1.302 million units were consumed domestically, up 10.7% month-on-month and 56.5% year-on-year. NEV exports totaled 128,000 units in October, indicating a 16% and 3.6% increase from the month-ago and year-ago period, respectively.
In the first ten months of this year, automakers in China produced and sold 9.779 million and 9.75 million NEVs, which represented a respective 33% and 33.9% year-on-year jump. NEVs constituted 39.6% of the country's year-to-date auto sales.
Domestic NEV sales amounted to 8.692 million units in the Jan.-Oct. period, leaping 38.3% year on year. Meanwhile, the country's NEV exports stood at 1.058 million units, growing 6.3% from the year-ago period.
In terms of automakers' export performance, in October 2024, automakers in China shipped a total of 542,000 vehicles overseas, representing a 0.5% month-on-month uptick and a 11.1% year-on-year increase. Among which, 465,000 units were passenger vehicles (+1.8% MoM, +10.7% YoY), and 76,000 units were commercial vehicles (-6.6% MoM, +13.6% YoY).
In the first ten months of this year, China's auto exports came in at 4.855 million vehicles, jumping 23.8% over the previous year. Year-to-date passenger vehicle exports grew 24% from a year ago to 4.1 million units, while commercial vehicle exports leapt 22.5% year on year to 755,000 units.
In October, among the top ten exporters in China, Chery led with 112,000 vehicles shipped to overseas markets, which indicated a year-on-year increase of 18.9%, and accounting for 20.7% of the country's total monthly export volume.
BAIC Group saw the highest export growth rate in the past month, with exports doubling year-on-year to 30,000 units.
