China's car sales embrace "golden season" on pro-consumption drive

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese carmakers are reaping robust sales as the world's largest automobile market has entered a traditionally high season for car consumption, with the government's pro-spending policies adding further fuel.

Dubbed "Golden September and Silver October" by auto market players, the two months are considered a peak period for car sales, during which manufacturers typically launch new models and offer discounts in a final push for the year.

The just-concluded week-long National Day holiday, which registered bursts of spending in tourism and home appliances as well as a surge in self-driving tours, also saw carmakers and dealers report a hike in orders.

New energy vehicle (NEV) maker Leapmotor logged a record high in daily sales on Monday, the last day of the holiday, with its total firm orders exceeding 17,000 units during the period, the company's CEO Zhu Jiangming announced in a WeChat post.

"Thanks to our colleagues for their hard work during the holiday!" Zhu said.

Market upstart Xiaomi revealed that the company secured orders for over 6,000 units of its first car series SU7 from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7. The company aims to ramp up production and delivery to 20,000 vehicles in October.

September witnessed the launch of nearly 50 new or redesigned car models in the auto market, local media reported. Some 20 cities across the country held car exhibitions during the National Day holiday, making visiting car shows a popular choice among many consumers.

"The car exhibitions during this year's 'Golden Week' are different from those of previous years, as multiple government subsidies have fully stimulated market vitality," said Lu Tian, head of sales for BYD's Dynasty models, who shared photos of car exhibitions teeming with visitors on his account on the X-like social media platform Weibo.

The combined subsidies for vehicle purchases from the national, municipal and district levels have attracted swarms of consumers to car exhibitions to learn about the latest trends and purchase incentives, Lu noted.

In August, China increased the financial stimulus to encourage consumers to scrap their old vehicles and buy new ones. Subsidies for trade-ins of passenger NEVs have doubled from 10,000 yuan (about 1,414 U.S. dollars) to 20,000 yuan, while those for trade-ins of fuel passenger vehicles have been lifted from 7,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan.

As of Oct. 7, the Ministry of Commerce had received over 1.27 million applications for subsidies, driving new vehicle sales totalling over 160 billion yuan.

Spurred partly by the trade-in program, Chinese NEV giant BYD's sales volume reached 419,400 units in September, surging 45.91 percent over the same period of last year and marking the first time for its monthly sales to exceed 400,000 units.

In September, U.S. NEV brand Tesla achieved a monthly record high in the Chinese market for this year with sales exceeding 72,000 vehicles, surging 66 percent year on year, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Preliminary statistics from the CPCA showed that the retail sales of passenger vehicles in September reached 2.063 million units, up 2 percent year on year and 8 percent month on month.

The demand for cars is likely to continue to rise in October with a relatively stable sales volume compared to September, the China Automobile Dealers Association predicted, citing the implementation of the local government's incentives for trade-ins, the peak season for car exhibitions, the growing popularity of self-driving tours, as well as dealers' year-end sales push.

CPCA secretary general Cui Dongshu estimated that domestic retail sales of automobiles might hit 22.3 million units in 2024, up 3 percent year on year. Among them, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles might reach 10.4 million units, representing a year-on-year increase of 34 percent.