China’s auto production, sales both achieve double-digit YoY growth in October 2023

Beijing (Gasgoo)- In October 2023, automotive exhibitions and promotional activities have ignited across China. Major automakers continued to release new models, driving an increase in customer traffic to dealerships and further stimulating automotive consumption. 

Following the success of the "Golden September" peak season, October maintained its market momentum, with automotive sales remaining relatively stable compared to September while posting significant year-on-year growth. The auto market’s "Silver October" season was in full swing.

Notably, passenger car production and sales, along with the recovery in consumption, continue to maintain a positive trend in the month. The commercial vehicle segment is experiencing growth, driven by the logistics industry's revival and other factors. New energy vehicles and automotive exports are still on a fast growth track. 

It is anticipated that with the ongoing cumulative effects of policies to stabilize economic growth at the national level, as well as local car purchase subsidies and promotional activities, the continuation of year-end effects, automobile demand in the fourth quarter of this year will continue to grow. The automotive industry is poised to perform well and meet its annual targets.

In October this year, China produced a total of 2.891 million vehicles, which ticked up 1.5% from the previous month and rose 11.2% over the previous year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). In the same month, automakers in China sold around 2.853 million vehicles, which showed a 0.2% notch down from a month earlier but a 13.8% increase year-on-year.

In the first ten months of this year, China’s cumulative auto production and sales volumes reached 24.106 million and 23.967 million vehicles, respectively, growing 8% and 9.1% year over year.

The new energy vehicle (NEV) market in China continued to make strides in October, with around 989,000 and 956,000 NEVs produced and sold by automakers in the country, jumping 29.2% and 33.5% from the previous year, respectively. NEVs made up 33.5% of the country's total auto sales last month. 

XPeng charging; photo credit: XPeng

Notably, among the NEVs sold in the last month, about 832,000 units were sold domestically in China, which edged up 2.9% month on month and hiked 37.3% year on year.

In the Jan.-Oct. period, China’s total NEV output and sales amounted to 7.352 million and 7.28 million units, respectively, leaping 33.9% and 37.8% over the previous year. These figures indicate that NEVs accounted for 30.4% of China’s auto sales in the same period. 

In the past month, there were approximately 488,000 vehicles shipped out from China to overseas markets, up 9.8% month-on-month rise and 44.2% year-on-year. Among which, roughly 124,000 units were NEVs, increasing 29.3% from the previous month while also rising 12.8% from the previous year.

In the first ten months of 2023, automakers in China moved a total of 3.922 million vehicles outside of the country, spiking 59.7% from a year ago. Year-to-date exports of NEVs came in at around 995,000 units, soaring 99.1% year over year.

Breaking down the NEV exports by specific powertrains, 920,000 units (+110% YoY) of the NEVs exported in the Jan.-Oct. period were battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), while plug-in hybrid electric vehicles contributed 75,000 units (+41.7% YoY) to the total volume. 

In October, the performance of Chinese automakers in the global market continued to impress. Among the top ten enterprises in complete vehicle exports, SAIC Motor stood out, exporting 100,000 vehicles, marking a remarkable 35.3% year-on-year increase and constituting 20.6% of the total export volume. Comparing with the same period last year, BYD's export growth was particularly noteworthy, reaching 31,000 units, which is 2.2 times higher than that of a year ago.

Looking at the cumulative export figures from January to October for the top ten automakers, BYD led in terms of growth rate, exporting 185,000 units, indicating a remarkable 440% spike year-on-year. Chery also demonstrated a robust performance, with 742,000 units exported, doubling its export volume from the previous year. Meanwhile, Great Wall Motor achieved an export figure of 247,000 units in the same period, which shot up 86% from a year ago.