The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers has unveiled the production and sales figures for the automotive sector in September 2026. According to the data, vehicle production for the month stood at 2.99 million units, while sales reached 2.956 million units. This reflects a month-on-month increase of 11.4% and 9% in production and sales, respectively. However, when compared to the same period last year, both production and sales witnessed a decline, with drops of 8.7% and 8.4%, respectively.

Analyzing the cumulative data from January to September, automobile production totaled 23.246 million units, and sales amounted to 23.271 million units. Both figures indicate a 4.5% decrease year-on-year.

Focusing on domestic sales, the September figures showed that 1.904 million vehicles were sold within the country, representing an 11.9% month-on-month rise but a significant 26% year-on-year drop. Specifically, traditional fuel vehicle sales within China reached 652,000 units, up 11.7% month-on-month yet down a substantial 45.3% year-on-year. Over the first nine months of the year, cumulative domestic automobile sales stood at 15.066 million units, a 22.4% decrease from the previous year. Traditional fuel vehicle sales within the country during this period were 6.599 million units, marking a 33.6% year-on-year decline.

In terms of exports, September saw 1.053 million vehicles shipped overseas, a 4.2% increase month-on-month and a remarkable 61.4% surge year-on-year. Notably, new energy vehicle exports reached 571,000 units, up 8.6% month-on-month and an impressive 1.6 times the figure from the previous year. Traditional fuel vehicle exports, on the other hand, were 482,000 units, experiencing a slight 0.6% month-on-month decrease but still managing a 12% year-on-year increase. From January to September, cumulative automobile exports totaled 8.205 million units, a 65.8% rise year-on-year. New energy vehicle exports during this period were 4.006 million units, up 1.3 times year-on-year, while traditional fuel vehicle exports reached 4.2 million units, showing a 31.6% year-on-year increase.