According to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), national passenger car market retail sales reached 1.995 million units in August, representing a 4.6% year-on-year increase and an 8.2% month-on-month rise. Cumulative retail sales since the beginning of the year totaled 14.741 million units, up 9.5% year-on-year. August retail sales hit a new record high, growing 3.7% compared to the previous historical peak of 1.92 million units in August 2023, showing a gradually stable growth trend.

Key characteristics of the August 2025 passenger car market include: First, passenger car manufacturers' retail, export, wholesale, and production all reached monthly historical highs, with new energy vehicle exports setting new records for any month in history. Second, while direct price wars appeared relatively mild this year, various indirect promotional measures such as enhanced configurations for annual models, adjusted owner benefits, and "two new" policies combined with manufacturer subsidies emerged continuously, with new energy vehicle promotions growing 10.7% month-on-month in August. Third, as the industry moves away from internal competition, overall passenger car manufacturer inventory decreased by 90,000 units in August (compared to a 160,000-unit decrease in the same period last year), with new energy vehicle inventory dropping by 50,000 units. Fourth, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles reached 55.2% in August, demonstrating steady growth supported by scrappage renewals, replacement updates, and universal policies such as new energy vehicle purchase tax exemptions. Fifth, from January to August 2025, domestic fuel-powered passenger car exports totaled 1.8 million units, down 10%, while domestic new energy exports reached 1.14 million units, up 123%, with new energy vehicles accounting for 38.8% of domestic exports.

Domestic brands sold 1.32 million units at retail in August, up 9% year-on-year and 8.6% month-on-month. Domestic brands' domestic retail market share reached 65.7% for the month, up 2.3 percentage points year-on-year. From January to August, domestic brands held a 64% retail market share, up 6.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year, with domestic brands achieving significant growth in both new energy and export markets. Leading traditional automakers showed excellent transformation and upgrade performance, with brands like GEELY AUTO, Chery, Chongqing Changan Automobile Company Limited, and Great Wall Motor Company Limited significantly improving their market share.

Mainstream joint venture brands sold 470,000 units at retail in August, down 2% year-on-year but up 2% month-on-month. German brands held a 14.2% retail market share in August, down 2.4 percentage points year-on-year, while Japanese brands maintained a 12.5% share, down 0.1 percentage points year-on-year. American brands captured a 6% market retail share, up 0.2 percentage points year-on-year. Korean and other European brands both saw slight increases in retail market share.

Luxury car retail sales reached 210,000 units in August, down 5% year-on-year but up 21% month-on-month. Luxury brands held a 10.5% retail market share in August, down 1.1 percentage points year-on-year, facing greater pressure than mainstream joint venture brands.

Regarding exports, according to customs preliminary data, automotive exports (including complete vehicles and CKD) reached 763,000 units in August, worth $12.8 billion. From January to August 2025, automotive exports totaled 4.93 million units, up 20.5% year-on-year, valued at $84.3 billion, up 10.8% year-on-year. According to CPCA data, passenger car exports (including complete vehicles and CKD) reached 499,000 units in August, up 20.2% year-on-year and 3.1% month-on-month. From January to August, passenger car manufacturer exports totaled 3.471 million units, up 11.3% year-on-year. New energy vehicles accounted for 41.3% of total exports in August, an increase of 17 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Domestic brand exports reached 429,000 units in August, up 28% year-on-year and 3% month-on-month, while joint venture and luxury brand exports totaled 70,000 units, down 12% year-on-year.

**New Energy Vehicles**

New energy passenger car production reached 1.256 million units in August, up 21.0% year-on-year and 9.1% month-on-month. Cumulative production from January to August totaled 8.853 million units, up 33.5% year-on-year. New energy passenger car wholesale sales reached 1.282 million units in August, up 22.3% year-on-year and 7.8% month-on-month. Cumulative wholesale sales from January to August totaled 8.931 million units, up 33.5% year-on-year. New energy passenger car market retail sales reached 1.101 million units in August, up 7.5% year-on-year and 11.6% month-on-month. Cumulative retail sales from January to August totaled 7.556 million units, up 25.8% year-on-year. New energy passenger car manufacturer exports reached 204,000 units in August, up 102.7% year-on-year but down 6.5% month-on-month. Cumulative exports from January to August totaled 1.416 million units, up 63.9% year-on-year.

1) Wholesale: The new energy vehicle manufacturer wholesale penetration rate reached 52.2% in August, up 3.3 percentage points from August 2024. Domestic brands achieved a 66.2% new energy vehicle penetration rate, luxury cars reached 41.9%, while mainstream joint venture brands achieved only 7.1%.

Passenger car models with wholesale sales exceeding 20,000 units in August numbered 22 (compared to 17 last month), including Model Y (58,888 units), Geely Galaxy series (48,011 units), BYD Song (43,187 units), BYD Qin (37,507 units), Seagull (34,204 units), Seal 06 (33,235 units), Hongguang MINI (31,371 units), Seal Lion 06 (30,483 units), Sylphy (29,327 units), Boyue (28,961 units), Tiggo 7 (25,176 units), Qin L (25,054 units), Tiggo 5X (25,045 units), Tiggo 8 (24,656 units), Model 3 (24,304 units), Yuan UP (23,520 units), AITO M8 (22,686 units), Dolphin (21,708 units), Lavida (21,691 units), Magotan (20,546 units), Sagitar (20,193 units), and Camry (20,105 units). Among these, 13 were new energy models, while traditional fuel vehicle models like Sylphy, Boyue, Lavida, and the Tiggo series showed strong domestic performance.

2) Retail: New energy vehicles achieved a 55.2% retail penetration rate in the overall domestic passenger car market in August, up 1.5 percentage points year-on-year. In August domestic retail sales, domestic brands achieved a 76% new energy vehicle penetration rate, luxury cars reached 31.9%, while mainstream joint venture brands achieved only 6.6%.

Looking at monthly new energy vehicle domestic retail market share, domestic brand new energy vehicles held a 69.5% retail share in August, down 3.4 percentage points year-on-year. Mainstream joint venture brand new energy vehicles held a 3.6% share, down 0.2 percentage points year-on-year. New forces held a 20.8% share, with brands like XPeng Motors, Leapmotor, and Xiaomi Auto driving a 4.7 percentage point year-on-year increase in new forces' share. Tesla held a 5.2% share, up 1.0 percentage point year-on-year.

3) Exports: New energy passenger car exports reached 204,000 units in August, up 102.7% year-on-year but down 6.5% month-on-month, accounting for 40.9% of passenger car exports, up 16.6 percentage points year-on-year. Pure electric vehicles accounted for 66% of new energy exports (compared to 80.4% in the same period last year), with A00+A0 class pure electric vehicle exports accounting for 38% of pure electric exports (compared to 23% in the same period last year).

Outstanding companies in new energy manufacturer exports in August included: BYD Company Limited (79,603 units), Tesla China (26,040 units), Chery Auto (21,306 units), GEELY AUTO (12,942 units), SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle Company (8,871 units), Chongqing Changan Automobile Company Limited (8,354 units), Spotlight Automotive (6,617 units), SAIC-GM-Wuling (6,468 units), Polestar (6,143 units), Leapmotor (5,904 units), Volvo Cars Asia Pacific (5,311 units), Great Wall Motor Company Limited (3,497 units), XPeng Motors (3,018 units), GAC Aion (2,274 units), Dongfeng Motor (2,256 units), Zhima Auto (1,247 units), FAW Hongqi (729 units), Seres (Hubei) (673 units), Jiangsu Yueda Kia (664 units), JAC Motors (420 units), Dongfeng Honda (241 units), and NIO (217 units). Other automakers also achieved significant new energy export volumes.

From overseas system construction perspective, some domestic brands maintain high CKD export ratios, with Great Wall Motor Company Limited achieving a 47.8% CKD export ratio and BYD Company Limited achieving 9.3%. In terms of transitioning from complete vehicle exports to CKD exports and overseas localized production system construction, companies like Great Wall Motor Company Limited and BYD Company Limited have performed excellently.

4) Automakers: Domestic new energy passenger car retail sales exceeding 20,000 units were achieved by: BYD Company Limited (310,200 units), GEELY AUTO (134,405 units), Chongqing Changan Automobile Company Limited (72,338 units), SAIC-GM-Wuling (61,351 units), Tesla China (57,152 units), Leapmotor (51,162 units), Hongmeng Intelligent Mobility (44,561 units), Chery Auto (39,122 units), Xiaomi Auto (36,396 units), XPeng Motors (34,691 units), Great Wall Motor Company Limited (33,960 units), NIO (31,088 units), Li Auto (28,529 units), and GAC Aion (24,331 units). Mainstream domestic automakers' new energy performance continues to strengthen, with companies like BYD Company Limited, GEELY AUTO, and Chongqing Changan Automobile Company Limited showing excellent domestic new energy retail performance.

5) New Forces: New forces held a 20.8% retail market share in August, up 4.7 percentage points year-on-year. Pure electric vehicle sales among new force models accounted for 62%, significantly up from 57% in the same period, with 100,000-150,000 yuan class sales in new force pure electric vehicles showing substantial growth. Independent new energy brands from traditional domestic automakers, as second-generation players, performed strongly with an 11.7% market share, up 1.1 percentage points year-on-year. Brands like Deepal, Avatr, BYD Formula Leopard, IM Motors, and ARCFOX from major domestic groups showed excellent performance.

**September National Passenger Car Market Outlook**

September 2025 has 22 working days, the same as last year, providing relatively ample production and sales time. The "Golden September" high sales volume characteristic has become increasingly evident in recent years, with September retail sales averaging 8.8% of annual totals from 2015-2019. This increased to 9.3% in 2023-2024 following the three pandemic years. With 2024's second-half monthly sales rising significantly due to policy support, September 2025 faces a relatively high base, and with some regional subsidy funding being controlled rhythmically, September growth rates will clearly moderate.