BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China’s passenger car sales climbed 8.3% in December, bringing to a close a strong year for auto giant BYD and other domestic brands which have been outselling their foreign rivals.
Sales came in at 2.37 million vehicles for December, the fifth straight month of gains, although growth fell back from a jump of 25.5% for November, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Tuesday.
Full-year sales rose 5.3% to 21.93 million – the third consecutive year of growth for the world’s largest auto market amid a bruising price war as car makers sought to woo consumers unnerved by a faltering economic recovery.
Last year also saw China almost certainly become the world’s largest exporter of passenger cars, surpassing Japan, as BYD and other local electric vehicle brands made strides overseas.
China’s passenger vehicle exports increased 62% in 2023 to a record 3.83 million vehicles.
Japanese customs data shows passenger car exports at 3.5 million for the first 11 months of the year, excluding second-hand vehicles.
Sales of pure battery-powered vehicles in China climbed 20.8% last year after a 74.2% jump in 2022.
Sales of plug-in hybrids, more economically affordable than pure electrics, grew 82.5% last year after a 160.5% surge a year earlier.
(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Daniel Leussink in Tokyo; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
