# China September Passenger Vehicle Retail Falls 28% to 1\.618 Million Units

China's passenger vehicle retail sales totaled 1\.618 million units in September, down 28\.0% year-on-year but up 5\.0% from August, according to the China Passenger Car Association\. New energy vehicles reached a 67\.0% retail penetration rate and 65\.4% wholesale penetration rate, both record highs\.

By China EV Signal
Published: 2026-10-12T12:59:32.773Z
Updated: 2026-10-12T12:59:32.775Z
Canonical article: https://chinaevsignal.com/news/china-september-passenger-vehicle-retail-falls-28-percent

## Key takeaways

- China's passenger vehicle retail sales reached 1\.618 million units in September, down 28\.0% year-on-year and up 5\.0% month-on-month, while cumulative retail sales for January through September fell 21\.7% to 13\.334 million units\.
- New energy vehicles accounted for 67\.0% of retail sales and 65\.4% of wholesale sales in September, with 1\.084 million units retailed, down 16\.7% year-on-year\.
- Passenger vehicle exports including complete vehicles and CKD reached 917,000 units in September, up 73\.7% year-on-year, with new energy vehicles making up 60\.8% of that total\.

## 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\.

## Brand and Segment Performance

Retail sales of domestic brands reached 1\.13 million units in September, down 25% year-on-year and up 5% month-on-month, giving domestic brands a 69\.8% share of domestic retail\. Mainstream joint venture brands retailed 310,000 units, down 36% year-on-year and up 2% month-on-month\. Luxury vehicle retail reached 170,000 units, down 29% year-on-year and up 12% month-on-month, for an 11% share\. German brands held a 12\.2% retail share, Japanese brands 10\.7% and US brands 6\.3%\.

New energy vehicles reached 84\.5% retail penetration among domestic brands, 44\.9% among luxury brands and 15\.9% among mainstream joint venture brands\. Domestic brands accounted for 64\.5% of new energy retail, mainstream joint ventures 4\.8% and new emerging forces 23\.6%, up 3\.4 percentage points year-on-year\. Battery electric vehicles made up 75% of new emerging force sales, up from 70% a year earlier\.

Fuel vehicle retail fell 43% year-on-year in September, with pure fuel vehicles down 49%\. Conventional hybrid vehicle retail rose 25% year-on-year, and conventional hybrid wholesale reached 125,000 units, up 51% year-on-year and up 17% month-on-month\.

## Exports

Passenger vehicle exports including complete vehicles and CKD totaled 917,000 units in September, up 73\.7% year-on-year and up 3\.2% month-on-month\. New energy vehicles accounted for 60\.8% of total exports, an increase of 21 percentage points from a year earlier\. Domestic brand exports reached 812,000 units, while joint venture and luxury brand exports totaled 105,000 units\.

New energy passenger vehicle exports reached 558,000 units in September, up 163\.5% year-on-year and up 7\.7% month-on-month, while cumulative exports for January through September reached 3\.887 million units, up 138\.8% year-on-year\. Conventional fuel passenger vehicle exports totaled 359,000 units\. Leading new energy exporters included BYD with 175,877 units, Chery with 85,990 units, Geely with 72,893 units and Tesla China with 30,529 units\. Among manufacturers using CKD exports, Great Wall Motor's CKD share of exports was 41\.9%, SAIC-GM-Wuling's was 42\.1%, Leapmotor's was 34\.6% and SAIC Passenger Vehicle's was 15\.3%\.

## Top-Selling Models

Twenty-three passenger vehicle models exceeded 20,000 units in wholesale sales in September\. The top models were the BYD Song at 69,266 units, the Model Y at 62,948 units, the BYD Yuan UP at 62,711 units, the Geely Xingyuan at 60,871 units and the BYD Seagull at 38,650 units\. Other models above 20,000 units included the BYD Dolphin, Tiggo 7, Model 3, Fang Cheng Bao Tai 7, Qiyuan Q05, Binyue, Chery JAECOO J5, Wuling Bingo, Galaxy Xingjian 7, MG4 EV, Boyue, Leapmotor A10, Jetour Traveler, Deepal S05, BYD Seal 06, BYD Sea Lion 06, Xingyue L and BYD Yuan PLUS\.

## Industry Profitability

China's auto industry recorded a sales profit margin of 3\.6% for January through August, with revenue of 7\.0062 trillion yuan, cost of 6\.237 trillion yuan and profit of 253\.4 billion yuan\. In August, vehicle production reached 2\.7 million units, sales revenue was 928\.1 billion yuan and profit was 37\.1 billion yuan, for a sales profit margin of 4%\.

## Global Market

Global vehicle sales totaled 63\.43 million units in the first eight months of 2026, up 2% year-on-year, with China accounting for a 32\.0% share\. Global new energy passenger vehicle sales reached 15\.7 million units in the period, up 15% year-on-year\. China's share of the global new energy passenger vehicle market was 62% for January through August and 65\.3% in August alone\. China held a 59% share of the global battery electric vehicle market, recovering to 62% in the third quarter, and a 71% share of the global plug-in hybrid market, reaching 74% in August\.

Global new energy vehicle penetration reached 24\.7% in 2026, up from 23\.6% in 2025, 19\.5% in 2024, 15\.9% in 2023 and 13\.1% in 2022\. Germany's penetration rate was 33\.4%, Norway's 80%, the UK's 36%, the US 7% and Japan 4%\.

## October Outlook

October has 18 working days, unchanged from the same period last year\. The effective selling time in October is longer, and showroom traffic is expected to continue recovering\. Trade-in subsidies are expected to follow a low-then-high pattern over the year\. The association said it looks forward to future policy support for economy electric vehicles, encouraging smaller vehicles and providing more subsidies for lower-priced cars\.

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## Original publisher

乘联分会. Published: 2026-10-12T05:17:18.000Z