Beijing (ZXZC)- In the first quarter of 2024, the Chinese automotive industry experienced a stable start, laying a solid foundation for the year.

Specifically, both production and sales volumes of automobiles demonstrated robust growth, with both passenger and commercial vehicles performing well. The momentum of rapid development trend in new energy vehicles continued, maintaining a stable market share of 30% in China. The country’s export of complete vehicles remained at a high level, continuing to play an active role in driving industry growth. Meanwhile, China’s indigenous brands stayed on the rise, sustaining a high market share.

In March alone, China produced a total of 2.687 million vehicles, representing a 78.4% leap from the previous month and a 4% rise from the previous year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). In the same month, there were roughly 2.694 million vehicles sold by automakers in China, soaring 70.2% year on year while climbing 9.9% month on month.

In the first quarter of this year, China’s cumulative auto production and sales volumes stood at 6.606 million and 6.72 million vehicles, respectively, growing 6.4% and 10.6% from a year ago.

In the past month, carmakers in China produced and sold 863,000 and 477,000 new energy vehicles (NEVs), indicating a respective 28.1% and 35.3% jump year-over-year.

Of the NEVs sold in March, 758,000 units were consumed domestically, zooming up 92.1% from the previous month while surging 32% from the year-ago period. In the meantime, China shipped 124,000 units of NEVs to the overseas markets last month, which spiked 52% and 59.4% year on year.

In the first three months of 2024, China’s NEV production and sales volumes came in at around 2.115 million and 2.09 million units, jumping 28.2% and 31.8% from the previous year, respectively. In this period, NEVs made up 31.1% of the country's total auto sales.

Of the NEVs sold in the first quarter of 2024, 1.783 million units were sold within the country, representing a 33.3% increase compared to the same span last year. NEV exports amounted to 307,000 units during the first quarter, up 23.8% year-over-year.

Song L; photo credit: BYD

In March 2024, China saw 502,000 vehicles set sail to overseas markets, demonstrating a 33% surge month-on-month and 37.9% increase year-on-year. Among the vehicles exported last month, about 424,000 units were passenger cars, climbing up 34.6% and 39.3% from the month-ago and year-ago periods, respectively. Meanwhile, with 78,000 units shipped, the country’s commercial vehicle sector achieved a respective 24.9% month-on-month and 31% year-on-year growth in monthly exports.

In the first quarter of 2024, China’s cumulative auto export volume reached 1.324 million vehicles, zooming up 33.2% from a year ago. Year-to-date exports of passenger cars came in at around 1.11 million units (+34.3% YoY), and commercial vehicles at 214,000 units (+27.5% YoY).

As to performance of individual automakers, SAIC Motor surpassed Chery to claim the champion by monthly exports in March 2024, with a total of 96,000 vehicles sold overseas, up 10.6% year-on-year. Notably, SAIC Motor’s export volume accounted for 19.1% of China’s total auto exports in the past month. In addition, Chinese NEV giant BYD realized the most prominent growth in auto exports. In March, BYD shipped 39,000 vehicles to foreign markets, representing a 1.7-fold increase from a year ago.