Car manufacturers’ price reductions boosted demand in China last year. Car sales rose 8.3 percent to 2.37 million in December, the China Passenger Car Association said on Tuesday. For the year as a whole, sales rose by 5.3 percent to 21.93 million units. This means that the industry in China achieved its third year of growth in a row.
Exports jumped 62 percent last year to a record 3.83 million vehicles, meaning China overtook Japan as the world‘s largest car exporter. Chinese electric car manufacturers, who are increasingly pushing into foreign markets, provided tailwind. BYD alone sold around three million vehicles in 2023, almost 62 percent more than in the previous year.
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Sales of purely battery-powered vehicles in China rose by 20.8 percent last year. Sales of hybrid vehicles, which are cheaper than pure electric vehicles, rose 82.5 percent. Because of the hesitant demand for new cars, a price war has been raging in the world‘s largest car market since the beginning of 2023, which was triggered by the US electric car manufacturer Tesla and has since spread to more than 40 brands.