Pickup market expected to double in size in 5 years

Pickups, a small light-vehicle segment in the Chinese market, are poised for robust growth as more governments relax rules over their use, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers predicts. 

Annual pickup sales in China could reach 840,000 in 2025, more than double 2021 levels, if Beijing keeps pushing provincial governments to allow pickups to be operated in local cities, according to a new forecast from the industry trade group.

Annual volume could further expand to 1.67 million by 2030, CAAM added. Pickups, along with other light trucks such as crossovers and SUVS, have become some of the auto industry's most profitable models, especially in markets such as the U.S. In China, they are still mostly a basic, utilitarian vehicle used in rural areas.

Chinese provinces in 2000 started to ban pickups in urban areas in a bid to ease traffic congestion and control air pollution. 

To boost the slowing economy, Beijing in 2016 began to prod provincial governments to relax restrictions. 

China’s annual pickup deliveries then expanded to some 414,000 in 2020 from around 304,000 in 2015. 

In the first nine months of this year, pickup sales across the country jumped nearly 18 percent to 402,000. 

However, 38 percent of Chinese cities still restrict the use of pickups, the industry group noted, most of which are provincial capitals or located in economically developed coastal areas. They also account for half of China’s population and 60 percent of the national economy, it added.