China's automobile output, sales both rise over 10% YoY in May 2025

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers ("CAAM"), China's automobile market maintained strong momentum in May 2025, recording double-digit year-on-year growth in both production and sales. Domestic demand and exports both posted solid performances. The passenger vehicle (PV) segment remained buoyant, while commercial vehicle (CV) demand showed signs of lag. New energy vehicles (NEVs) continued their rapid ascent, and automotive exports registered a notable acceleration.

In May, China's automobile production reached 2.649 million units and sales hit 2.686 million units, marking month-on-month increases of 1.1% and 3.7%, and year-on-year growth of 11.6% and 11.2%, respectively.

From January to May of the year, cumulative automobile production totaled 12.826 million units, up 12.7% year-on-year, while sales stood at 12.748 million units, rising 10.9% from a year earlier. Compared with the Jan.–Apr. period, production growth slowed slightly by 0.2 percentage points, while sales growth edged up by 0.1 percentage points.

China's domestic sales in May stood at 2.135 million units, up 3% from April and 10.3% from a year earlier. Of these, traditional oil-fueled vehicle sales totaled 1.04 million units, down 0.7% month-on-month and 3.6% year-on-year.

From January through May, domestic automobile sales reached 10.258 million units, up 11.7% year-on-year. Sales of traditional oil-fueled vehicles during the same period declined 5.3% to 5.505 million units.

China exported 551,000 vehicles in May, a 6.6% increase from April and a 14.5% rise from the same month last year. Total vehicle exports for the first five months of the year reached 2.49 million units, up 7.9% year-on-year.

In May, China's PV sector continued its upward trajectory, with both production and sales achieving strong double-digit year-on-year growth. According to the CAAM's data, the country's PV production reached 2.313 million units, up 2.5% over the previous month and 12.8% over the previous year. Sales climbed to 2.352 million units, representing month-on-month and year-on-year increases of 5.8% and 13.3%, respectively.

For the Jan.-May period, cumulative PV production hit 11.08 million units, rising 14.1% year-on-year, while sales reached 10.996 million units, up 12.6% from a year earlier.

China's self-owned brands continued to gain ground in the PV segment. In May, they sold 1.622 million units, marking a 22.6% year-on-year increase and capturing a 69% market share—up 5.3 percentage points from the same period last year. In the first five months of the year, their cumulative sales totaled 7.562 million units, up 26.3% year-on-year, with a market share of 68.8%, a 7.5-percentage-point increase from a year ago.

Domestic market's PV sales in May stood at 1.884 million units, up 5.2% from April and 12.3% from a year earlier. Within that, sales of traditional oil-fueled PVs reached 854,000 units, up 2.2% month-on-month but down 1% year-on-year—a decline of 9,000 units compared to May 2023.

From January to May, domestic market's PV sales totaled 8.916 million units, a 13.9% year-on-year increase. Traditional oil-fueled PVs accounted for 4.446 million units, down 4.1% year-on-year, a drop of 188,000 units.

China's PV exports in May reached 468,000 units, up 8.5% from April and 17.7% year-on-year. For the Jan.–May period, exports totaled 2.079 million units, a 7.4% increase over the same period last year.

In contrast, the CV segment presented a more mixed picture. In May, CV production and sales reached 336,000 units and 335,000 units, respectively, representing month-on-month declines of 7.4% and 8.8%. Production rose 4.4% year-on-year, but sales dipped 2% over the year-ago period. Natural gas-powered CVs saw steeper declines, with May sales falling 4.4% month-on-month and 24.9% year-on-year to 18,000 units.

From January through May this year, total CV production and sales reached 1.746 million and 1.753 million units, up 4.2% and 1.2% year-on-year, respectively. However, sales of natural gas-powered CVs came in at 102,000 units during the same period, down 7.8%.

Domestic market's CV sales in May totaled 251,000 units, falling 10.7% from April and 2.5% year-on-year. Cumulative domestic CV sales for the first five months reached 1.342 million units, a 1.3% decrease from the previous year.

China's CV exports in May stood at 83,000 units, down 2.8% from April and 0.5% year-on-year. For the January–May period, CV exports rose 10.5% from a year ago to 411,000 units.

China's NEV market maintained robust growth momentum in May, with both production and sales achieving strong year-on-year increases of over 30%. NEV production reached 1.27 million units in the month, up 35% year-on-year, while sales totaled 1.307 million units, up 36.9% over a year ago. NEVs accounted for 48.7% of all new vehicle sales during the month.

From the year's first five months, China's cumulative NEV production and sales stood at 5.699 million and 5.608 million units, respectively, representing year-on-year surges of 45.2% and 44%. NEVs made up 44% of total new vehicle sales in the same period.

In May, domestic market’s NEV sales rose 6.8% month-on-month and 27.9% year-on-year to 1.095 million units. Within this, PV sales reached 1.03 million units, growing 7.8% from April and 26.3% from a year ago. CV sales totaled 65,000 units, down 6.7% month-on-month but up 58.8% year-on-year.

For the first five months of the year, domestic market's NEV sales hit 4.753 million units, soaring 40.8% year-on-year. This included 4.47 million PVs (+40% YoY) and 283,000 CVs (+55.2% YoY).

China's NEV exports also saw strong growth. In May, 212,000 NEVs were exported, up 6.1% from April and more than doubling year-on-year with a 1.2-fold increase. Of these, PVs accounted for 204,000 units, up 7.4% month-on-month and 1.1 times year-on-year. CV exports reached 8,000 units, down 19.5% from April but up 1.5 times from a year earlier.

From January to May, China's NEV exports zoomed up 64.6% year-on-year to 855,000 units. Of those, PVs comprised the majority with 814,000 units (up 60.6% YoY), while CV exports surged 2.3 times from the prior-year period to 41,000 units.

Among the top 10 vehicle exporters in May, Chery took the lead with 101,000 units exported, up 9% year-on-year and accounting for 18.3% of total vehicle exports. BYD recorded the fastest export growth, shipping 89,000 units—a 1.3-fold increase over the same period last year.

In the first five months of 2025, Chery exported 442,000 units, up 1.6% year-on-year and representing 17.7% of China's total vehicle exports. BYD continued to stand out with exports reaching 382,000 units, more than doubling year-on-year with a 1.1-fold increase.