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Electric & new energy vehicles
BusinessChina Business

China’s car industry on a roll as production and sales hit all-time high in 2023

  • Chinese carmakers produced 30.16 million units last year, breaking the previous record of 29 million units in 2017
  • Deliveries rose 12 per cent year on year to 30.09 million units, surpassing the previous high of 28.87 million units in 2017

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People walk through a section of a mall in Beijing selling various Chinese-made electric cars brands. China’s car exports and domestic sales surged in 2023. Photo: AP Photo
Daniel Renin Shanghai
China’s car sector broke production and sales records last year, buoyed by surging deliveries of electric vehicles and rising exports to markets such as Russia, making it a key growth driver for the world’s second-largest economy.

A total of 30.16 million units comprising cars, buses and lorries were churned out last year, an increase of 11.6 per cent from the previous year and in the process overtaking the previous all-time high of 29 million in 2017, according to data compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

Deliveries hit 30.09 million units, 12 per cent higher year-on-year. It was 1.22 million units more than the previous high of 28.87 million, also set in 2017.

“Price discounts have impacted the market and the recovery of auto consumption is ongoing,” Chen Shihua, CAAM’s vice-secretary general, said at a briefing on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.

“Towards the end of the year, the auto market performed better than expected and production and wholesale volumes broke records.”

Vehicles are parked at a smart stereo garage at Yantai Port in east China’s Shandong province. Photo: Xinhua
Vehicles are parked at a smart stereo garage at Yantai Port in east China’s Shandong province. Photo: Xinhua

China’s vehicle exports, which included buses and lorries, jumped 58 per cent year on year to 4.91 million units in 2023, which should be enough for the country to clinch the title of the world’s largest vehicle exporter for the first time.

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