(Yicai) Sept. 9 — China’s auto production, sales, and exports all set fresh record highs for a fourth consecutive month in August, powered in large part by new energy vehicle demand and export growth, though the market’s growth is beginning to moderate, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
Passenger car production reached 2.406 million units last month, up 11.3 percent from a year earlier and up 6.7 percent on the prior month, CPCA figures showed yesterday. The figure was 160,000 higher than the previous record high of 2.24 million set in August 2023.
Car sales rose 4.6 percent to 1.99 million, slowing from a more than 10 percent growth rate in January to July. Sales were also just above the previous record of 1.92 million, also set in August 2023.
One of the factors cooling the market is government efforts to tackle involution, or excessively aggressive price competition, which has the effect of sapping both earnings and technological progress. China’s car market has shifted toward “fewer price cuts and moderate promotions,” the CPCA noted.
There were still price cuts for 23 vehicle models last month, but this was down from 29 in August last year and 25 in August 2023.
“It will be extremely difficult for sales to maintain high year-on-year growth this and next month,” said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the CPCA. He still expects “low growth in the first half, high growth in the middle, and moderate growth in the second half.”
The national vehicle tax exemption policies are set to expire after next month, which will also cool sales growth, but Cui said the anti-involution efforts can ease the burden on car companies and allow the industry to maintain high-quality and reasonable growth.
Discounts for new energy vehicles remained at a medium-to-high level of 10.7 percent last month, up 2.5 percentage points from a year ago, the data showed. Discounts for internal combustion engine vehicles remained stable at 22.9 percent, down 0.5 percentage point from July.
Exports rose to 499,000 in August, up 20.2 percent from a year ago and up 3.1 percent from July. From January to last month, exports were 3.471 million, up 11.3 percent from the same period of last year.
Last month’s exports included 204,000 NEVs, up 103 percent from a year earlier and accounting for half of total vehicle exports, which was also 16.6 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.
The domestic retail penetration rate of NEVs rose to 55.2 percent last month, up 1.5 percentage point from a year ago, mainly thanks to the combined effect of vehicle replacement and exemption from purchase tax for NEVs.
Big legacy automakers have done a good job in their transformation and upgrading programs, the CPCA noted, with Geely Automobile Holdings, Chery Automobile, China Changan Automobile Group, and Great Wall Motor all boosting their market share in August.
Editor: Tom Litting

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