National Passenger Vehicle Retail Sales Drop 15% YoY to 1.648 Million Units in March 2026, with NEV Penetration Hitting 51.5%

In March 2026, retail sales of passenger vehicles nationwide totaled 1.648 million units, down 15.0% year-over-year but up 59.4% month-over-month. Cumulative retail sales from January to March reached 4.226 million units, a 17.4% decline compared to the same period last year. Domestic brands recorded retail sales of 1.02 million units in March, down 16% year-over-year but up 61% month-over-month. Their domestic retail market share stood at 61.8%, down 0.8 percentage points year-over-year. Performance in the new energy vehicle (NEV) and export segments remained generally stable, with traditional automakers such as Geely Auto and Changan Automobile seeing notable gains in brand share. Mainstream joint-venture brands reported March retail sales of 410,000 units, down 13% year-over-year but up 54% month-over-month. Among them, German brands held a 16.0% retail share, down 0.7 percentage points year-over-year; Japanese brands accounted for 13.3%, up 1.0 percentage point year-over-year; American brands captured 6.9%, up 0.1 percentage point year-over-year; and Korean brands’ share remained largely flat. Luxury car retail sales reached 210,000 units in March, down 15% year-over-year but up 62% month-over-month. Their retail market share was 12.9%, up 0.1 percentage point year-over-year, indicating some stabilization in the segment. In the NEV segment, production in March totaled 1.123 million units, down 3.8% year-over-year but up 74.3% month-over-month. Cumulative production for Q1 reached 2.708 million units, down 7.6% year-over-year. Wholesale volume stood at 1.144 million units in March, up 1.1% year-over-year and 58.3% month-over-month; Q1 cumulative wholesale volume totaled 2.733 million units, down 4.3% year-over-year. Retail sales of NEVs reached 848,000 units in March, down 14.4% year-over-year but up 82.6% month-over-month; Q1 cumulative retail sales totaled 1.908 million units, down 21.1% year-over-year. For conventional fuel-powered passenger vehicles, March wholesale sales totaled 1.23 million units, down 4% year-over-year but up 55% month-over-month; retail sales reached 800,000 units, down 16% year-over-year but up 40% month-over-month. On the export front, NEV manufacturers exported 349,000 units in March, surging 139.9% year-over-year and up 29.6% month-over-month; cumulative exports for Q1 reached 908,000 units, up 123.7% year-over-year. Conventional fuel vehicle exports totaled 350,000 units in March, up 37% year-over-year and 21% month-over-month. The penetration rate of NEVs in China’s domestic passenger vehicle retail market reached 51.5% in March, up 0.3 percentage points year-over-year and 7 percentage points month-over-month. Specifically, NEV penetration among domestic brands stood at 73.5%, while luxury brands reached 33.9%, and mainstream joint-venture brands remained low at just 6.2%. In terms of domestic NEV retail market share, domestic brands accounted for 66.6%, down 5 percentage points year-over-year; mainstream joint-venture brands held 3.4%, up 0.8 percentage points year-over-year; emerging EV brands captured 21.5%, up 4.4 percentage points year-over-year—primarily driven by Leapmotor, Li Auto, and NIO; Tesla’s share stood at 6.6%, down 0.9 percentage points year-over-year.