China sold 944,000 new-energy vehicles in January 2025, up 29.4% from a year earlier, according to a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology release published on 17 February. The ministry attributed the underlying figures to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Those vehicles accounted for 38.9% of all new automobile sales that month. Production in the segment reached 1.015 million units, a 29% increase. Production and sales are separate measures, so neither figure should be treated as the other.
The broader car market was less buoyant. Total automobile sales declined 0.6% to 2.423 million units, while output increased 1.7% to 2.45 million. Passenger vehicle sales edged higher, but commercial vehicle sales fell 10.3%, highlighting different conditions across market segments.
Exports provided another contrast: total vehicle exports rose 6.1% to 470,000, while new-energy vehicle exports increased 49.6% to 150,000. This historical briefing concerns one month’s industry performance. It does not establish a full-year trend or describe sales conditions at the time this RBF News summary was prepared.