China’s car sales are expected to be flat this year, extending a downtrend, while robust electric vehicle exports in 2025 are unlikely to be sustained, a Chinese industry association said.
Car sales in the world’s largest auto market were up 3.9 per cent in 2025, slowing from growth of 5.3 per cent in 2024 and the slowest in three years, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed.
Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids outsold gasoline vehicles for the first time annually, but sales growth of such vehicles slowed sharply to 17.6 per cent last year from 40.7 per cent in 2024.
Domestic demand faded in the last quarter, as many cities and provinces reduced or suspended government subsidies for auto trade-ins due to a funding shortage, intensifying cut-throat competition and prompting automakers to step up overseas expansion to offset a sluggish domestic market.
Chinese automaker BYD posted its weakest sales growth in five years in 2025, but sales abroad hit a record of more than one million vehicles.
China’s overall car exports increased 19.4 per cent to 5.79 million vehicles last year, while pure EV exports were up 48.8 per cent to 1.52 million units, the CPCA data showed.
