China has 469 million motor vehicles running on roads by 2025

Gasgoo Munich- Official data from China's Ministry of Public Security show that by the end of 2025, the country's total volume of vehicles running on China's roads had reached 469 million units. Automobiles accounted for the bulk of this figure with 366 million numbered, underscoring the continued expansion of private and commercial car ownership nationwide.

New vehicle registrations in 2025 totaled 35.35 million units, including 26.19 million newly registered automobiles. This marked the 11th consecutive year in which China's annual vehicle registrations exceeded 30 million units, reflecting the market's sustained scale despite a more mature growth phase.

Urban vehicle ownership continued to broaden geographically. By the end of 2025, 103 cities nationwide each had more than one million vehicles running on roads, an increase of seven cities compared with 2024. Among them, 47 cities reported fleets exceeding two million vehicles, 27 surpassed three million, and seven cities recorded vehicle populations of more than five million, highlighting the concentration of car ownership in major metropolitan areas.

New-energy vehicles (NEVs) continued to gain ground within China's overall car parc. By the end of 2025, NEV population reached 43.97 million units, accounting for 12.01% of all automobiles on the road. Battery electric vehicles remained the dominant category, with 30.22 million units in operation, representing nearly 68.74% of the total NEV fleet.

Momentum in electrification was particularly evident in new registrations. In 2025, 12.93 million NEVs were newly registered, accounting for 49.38% of all newly registered automobiles. This figure was up by 1.68 million units from the previous year, translating into a year-on-year increase of 14.93% and bringing NEVs close to parity with internal combustion vehicles in annual additions.

The number of licensed drivers also continued to rise alongside vehicle ownership. By the end of 2025, China had 559 million licensed motor vehicle drivers, including 525 million licensed automobile drivers, who made up 93.87% of the total. During the year, 20.51 million people obtained a driver's license for the first time, pointing to a still-expanding base of potential vehicle users.