Retail sales of passenger vehicles in China rose by 18% year-on-year to 2.45 million units in November 2024, according to preliminary data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). This was the third consecutive month of growth for the market, with generous government incentives, new models and aggressive promotional campaigns - including heavy discounting - helping to drive up demand.

Overall domestic economic growth in China remains sluggish, despite significant government efforts to stimulate consumer spending. GDP growth slowed to 4.6% year-on-year in the third quarter from 4.7% in the second quarter and 5.3% in the first quarter, well below the government’s growth target of 5% for the whole of 2024. In the first eleven months of the year domestic passenger vehicle sales increased by just 5% to 20.285 million units. 

Domestic retail sales of passenger new energy vehicles (NEVs), comprising mainly electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, surged by 52% to 1.277 million units in November and by 41% to 9.61 million units year-to-date, after the government at the end of July doubled the one-off subsidy introduced in April to CNY20,000 (US$2,800) for buyers to trade in their old internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles for qualifying new battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

Global sales of Chinese-made passenger vehicles rose by 15% year-on-year to 2.943 million units in November 2024, according to wholesale data released by the association, and by 6% to 24.12 million units year-to-date - driven by a 39% increase in global NEV sales to 10.75 million units.