Posted on 13 Nov 2025
China's automobile market continued to perform strongly in October, with both production and sales hitting their monthly record highs for October to date, according to the latest release by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on November 11.
During October, China's automobile output and sales jumped by 12.1% and 8.8% on year to reach 3.36 million and 3.32 million units respectively. When compared to September, the production and sales results in October also increased by 2.5% and 3% respectively, CAAM data showed.
As this year's trade-in policy is about to expire by the year-end and the 10% tax exemption for new-energy vehicles (NEVs) will be reduced to 5%, carmakers in the country have seized the time window to accelerate operations and launch new car models. This, together with the industry's ramped-up efforts in cracking down on excessive competition, contributed to the robust performance of the auto market last month, the release noted.
With the tax exemption on purchasing NEVs set to be halved next year, optimized incentive policies for car consumption are urgently needed to stabilize market expectations and ensure smooth operations of the industry, the CAAM suggested.
Over January-October, the country's total automobile output leapt by 13.2% on year to top 27.69 million units, and cumulative sales grew by 12.4% on year to near 27.69 million units. The growth rates were 0.1 and 0.5 percentage point narrower than the rises logged during the first nine months, though, according to the release.
Among the total sales, 5.62 million units were for exports in the past ten months, up 15.7% on year. For October alone, China sold 666,000 vehicles abroad, edging up by 2.1% on month and surging 22.9% on year, the data indicated.
By auto type, the output and sales of passenger cars in October maintained the upward momentum to register 3 million units and 2.96 million units, respectively, up by 10.7% and 7.5% on year, and the volumes were 3.3% and 3.6% higher on month. Over January-October, passenger vehicle production grew by 13.5% on year to 24.24 million units, and sales increased by 12.9% on year to 24.21 million units.
Notably, Chinese-brand passenger vehicles made up 69.4% of total January-October sales, expanding by 4.8 percentage points from the same period last year.
As for vehicles for commercial use, their output and sales jumped by 25.4% and 21% on year to 364,000 units and 361,000 units, but they were 3.3% and 1.9% lower than September results. During January-October, cumulative production and sales of commercial vehicles grew by 10.9% and 9% on year to reach 3.46 million and 3.48 million units. Particularly, sales of natural gas-powered commercial vehicles during the first ten months rose by 8.6% on year to total 207,000 units, the CAAM release said.
The NEV segment continued to expand last month. NEV production last month swelled by 21.1% on year to 1.77 million units, while sales surged by 20% on year to 1.72 million units. The share of NEVs in total car sales climbed to 46.7% in October from 46.1 in September, Mysteel Global noted. Over January-October, NEV output and sales came in at 13.02 million and 12.94 million units, respectively, hiking by 33.1% and 32.7% on year, according to CAAM.
Within NEVs, electric cars saw their output and sales surge by 43.4% and 42.9% on year to 8.41 million and 8.33 million units during the first ten months, and those for plug-in hybrid vehicles rose by 17.7% and 17.8% during the same period to 4.6 million and 4.61 million units.
Source:Mysteel Global
