Down And Hit By Local Brands, VW, Toyota, Honda, And Tesla Still Interested In China's Automotive Market Semester 1-2024

BYD Yuan Plus, one of the best-selling cars in China. (Doc. X/@BYDCompany)

JAKARTA - As the world's largest automotive market, the development of the automotive industry in China is interesting to observe. In the first half of 2024, China's automotive industry showed stable growth according to a recent report from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) and the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

Launching CarNewsChina, July 15, car production and sales in China reached 13.891 million units and 14.047 million units, an increase of 4.9 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

A significant increase occurred in sales of electric vehicles (EV) which far surpassed gasoline-fueled vehicles. EV production and sales were recorded at 4.929 million units and 4.944 million units, an increase of 30.1 percent and 32 percent year-on-year, respectively. Electric cars now control 35.2 percent of China's automotive market share.

Chinese brands are increasingly dominating the domestic automotive industry. The combined sales of the top 10 Chinese automotive companies reached 11.917 million units, up 6.3 percent year-on-year, and controlled 84.8 percent of total car sales. The top three brands, namely BYD, Chery, and Geely, managed to sell 4.871 million units of vehicles, up 1.1 percent year-on-year, with a market share of 34.7 percent.

The following is a list of the 10 best-selling domestic brands in the first half of 2024:

Meanwhile, if combined with Chinese and global brands, here is a list of the 10 best-selling brands in China in the first half of 2024:

When viewed from the data above, overall, domestic Chinese car brand sales reached 5.559 million units, up 17.8 percent year-on-year, and controlled 56.5 percent market share. In contrast, German brands experienced a 6.2 percent decline in sales by year-on-year with a 19.4 percent market share. A sharper decline occurred in Japanese brands (down 12.4 percent year-on-year with a 14.9 percent market share), the United States brand (down 19.2 percent year-on-year), and the French brand (down 19.1 percent year-on-year).

This trend shows the shift in China's consumer preferences towards electric vehicles and local brands. In the future, competition in China's automotive industry is expected to be even tighter with the presence of new players and innovation of electric vehicle technology.