September Retail and Wholesale
China's passenger vehicle retail sales totaled 1.618 million units in September, down 28.0% year-on-year and up 5.0% month-on-month, according to the China Passenger Car Association. Cumulative retail sales for January through September reached 13.334 million units, down 21.7% year-on-year.
Wholesale sales by passenger vehicle manufacturers totaled 2.549 million units in September, down 8.9% year-on-year and up 8.1% month-on-month. The wholesale growth rate exceeded the retail growth rate by 19.1 percentage points. Passenger vehicle production reached 2.59 million units in September, down 9.1% year-on-year and up 10.3% month-on-month. Wholesale was 41,000 units below production, while domestic wholesale exceeded domestic retail by 14,000 units. Industry-wide passenger vehicle inventory fell by 680,000 units in the first nine months of the year.
New Energy Vehicles
New energy vehicle retail sales totaled 1.084 million units in September, down 16.7% year-on-year and up 7.8% month-on-month. The retail penetration rate reached 67.0% and the wholesale penetration rate reached 65.4%, both record highs. New energy passenger vehicle production reached 1.655 million units in September, up 9.8% year-on-year, while wholesale sales reached 1.666 million units, up 11.3% year-on-year. Cumulative new energy production for January through September reached 11.413 million units, and cumulative wholesale reached 11.448 million units.
Battery electric vehicle wholesale sales reached 1.126 million units in September, up 18.3% year-on-year. Plug-in hybrid sales totaled 423,000 units, down 0.1% year-on-year, and extended-range electric vehicle wholesale reached 117,000 units, down 4.0% year-on-year. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 67.6% of the new energy wholesale mix, plug-in hybrids 25.4% and extended-range vehicles 7.0%. Grade B electric vehicle wholesale reached 329,000 units, while A00-grade wholesale reached 78,000 units and A0-grade wholesale reached 396,000 units.