In the first half of the year, China saw 1.103 million new energy vehicles registered, up 234 percent from a year ago, according to a report released Friday by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Compared with the same period in 2019, the figure was up 74.9 percent, a record high, the CPCA said.
Registrations of all cars rose 35.8 percent to 14.14 million over the same period, up 13.9 percent from the same period in 2019.
"The rapid development of new energy vehicles and the rapid growth of luxury brand vehicles indicate the stimulation of domestic demand potential in the car market," the CPCA said.
New car makers Nio, Xpeng Motors, and Li Auto saw triple-digit year-over-year spikes in first-half deliveries, the CPCA noted.
The potential of China's car market is also supported by a surge in the number of new driver's license recipients and significant growth in used car transactions.
The number of people newly issued car driving licenses reached 13.9 million in the first half of the year, up 90.93 percent from the same period last year, the report said.
The volume of used car transactions in China reached 8.43 million units in the first half of the year, up 52.8 percent year-over-year and 22.9 percent compared with the same period in 2019.
Among them, the transaction volume of cars reached 5.1092 million units, up 56.7 percent.
The total import and export of Chinese automobiles and parts in the first half of the year reached $99.1 billion, up 61.3 percent year-over-year.
Among them, imports amounted to 48.32 billion US dollars, up 56.5 percent year-over-year; exports amounted to 50.78 billion US dollars, up 66.2 percent year-over-year. The trade surplus was $2.46 billion, the report said.
China exported 939,200 vehicles in the first half of the year, up 113.6 percent; exports amounted to $14.691 billion, up 118.0 percent year-over-year.
Among them, passenger cars exported 708,800 units, up 118.6 percent year-over-year. The export amount was 9.198 billion US dollars, an increase of 113.3 percent year-over-year.
The export amount of auto parts and accessories in the first half of the year was 36.093 billion US dollars, up 51.6 percent year-over-year; the import amount was 19.582 billion US dollars, up 42.2 percent year-over-year. The trade surplus reached $16.511 billion, the report said.
Due to the shortage of chips, some companies slowed down their production pace, with some models being cut back or even stopped.
That led to China's auto capacity utilization rate dropping to 74.2 percent in the second quarter, down 4.3 percentage points from the first quarter, the CPCA said.
However, China's auto capacity utilization rate was 76.2 percent in the first half of the year, still 9.4 percentage points higher than the same period last year, the CPCA said.
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