Vehicle output, shipments in 2023 top 30 million, set records

China's vehicle output and wholesale deliveries set records in 2023, driven by a surge in exports and price cuts on new cars and light trucks at home.

Vehicle shipments industrywide jumped 24 percent to 3.16 million in December, with full-year volume rising 12 percent to a record 30.09 million in 2023, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.

Overall, automakers in China last year churned out 30.16 million vehicles, including cars, crossovers, vans, pickups, multipurpose vehicles, trucks and buses, the trade group said.

Both output and vehicle shipments, which include deliveries to dealers, topped records set in 2017.

“Price discounts have impacted the market and the recovery of auto consumption is ongoing,” Chen Shihua, vice secretary general at the association, said in a briefing Thursday. “Toward the end of the year, the auto market performed better than expected and production and wholesale volumes broke records.”

In December, shipments of sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses advanced 23 percent to nearly 2.8 million. 

Shipments of commercial vehicles, including trucks and buses, rose 25 percent to some 364,000 last month.

In 2023, shipments of all light vehicles rose 11 percent to 26.06 million while commercial vehicle deliveries increased 22 percent to 4.03 million.

The growth in wholesale deliveries last month and in 2023 was mainly driven by exports, according to the trade group’s tally. 

In December, total vehicle exports from China surged 54 percent to roughly 500,000, with light-vehicle shipments overseas up 53 percent to 422,000 and commercial exports rising 60 percent to 78,000.

Overall, China’s vehicle exports climbed 58 percent to a record 4.91 million vehicles last year, with light-vehicle shipments jumping 64 percent to 4.14 million and commercial vehicle exports rising 32 percent to 770,000.

SAIC Motor Corp. remained China’s biggest auto exporter last year, while Chery Automobile Co. claimed the No. 2 spot, boosted by shipments to Russia. SAIC and Chery were followed by No. 3 Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. and No. 4 Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., the association said.

Russia, which many Western automakers abandoned in the wake of the country's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, was the top destination for China vehicle exports in 2023, the association said, with Mexico in second place.

As the Chinese market continues a rapid shift to electrified vehicles, wholesale deliveries of full electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids jumped 46 percent to 1.19 million in December. 

EV shipments last month increased 32 percent to some 825,000, while plug-in hybrid volume shot up 93 percent to roughly 364,000.

For 2023, shipments of electrified vehicles industrywide jumped 38 percent to approach 9.5 million: EV shipments rose 25 percent to top 6.69 million while plug-in hybrid volume surged 85 percent to 2.8 million. 

With Chinese car shoppers abandoning gasoline vehicles for electrified models, the number of gasoline light-vehicle shipments dropped 7.2 percent to 14 million in 2023, the association said. 

After climbing to a then-record 28.9 million in 2017, China's vehicle shipments steadily slipped from 2018 to 2021. In 2022, volume rebounded 2.1 percent to 26.9 million. 

In 2024, vehicle shipments industrywide will increase 3.3 percent to exceed 31 million, with exports rising 12 percent to 5.5 million, the trade group predicted Thursday.

It also expects shipments of electrified vehicles to advance 21 percent to 11.5 million this year.

Bloomberg contributed to this report.