Passenger Link Branch: Retail sales of 210,000 vehicles in the national passenger car market fell 19% year on year from September 1 to 6

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on September 1-6, the passenger car market retailed 210,000 vehicles, down 19% from the same period last year, down 1% from the same period last month. Since this year, passenger car retail sales have accumulated 11.926 million units, down 21% year on year; from September 1 to 6, passenger car manufacturers across the country wholesale 207,000 vehicles, down 21% from the same period last year, up 13% from the same period last month. Since this year, 17.39 million passenger cars have been sold, down 5% year on year.

New energy: From September 1 to 6, the national passenger car new energy market retailed 150,000 vehicles, down 3% from the same period last year, up 15% from the same period last month. Since this year, the total retail sales of passenger cars of 6.824 million units, down 12% year on year; from September 1 to 6, passenger car manufacturers sold 156,000 new energy vehicles, an increase of 2% over the same period last month, up 20% from the same period last month. Since this year, the total number of passenger cars has been wholesale of 9.934 million vehicles, an increase of 9% year on year.

Penetration rate: On September 1-6, the penetration rate of NEV retail sales in the national passenger car market was 71.5%; on September 1-6, the NEV wholesale penetration rate of passenger car manufacturers across the country was 75.1%.

Production: In the first week of September, the country produced 101,000 pure fuel light vehicles, down 47% from the same period last year, and up 86% from the same period last month; in the first week of September, overall hybrid and plug-in hybrid production was 85,000 units, down 11% from the same period last year, and up 35% from the same period last month.

Retail sales trend in the national passenger car market in September 2026

In the first week of September, the national passenger car market sold an average of 35,000 vehicles per day, down 19% from the same period in September last year, and down 1% from the same period last month.

From September 1 to 6, the national passenger car market retailed 210,000 vehicles, down 19% from the same period last year and down 1% from the same period last month; since this year, 11.926 million passenger cars have been retailed, down 21% year on year.

In September, the market entered the traditional “gold nine silver ten” peak consumption season, and terminal passenger traffic is expected to continue to pick up. At the macro level, the manufacturing PMI rebounded month-on-month and the CPI was stable in August. The economy showed operating characteristics of “marginal recovery in demand and stabilization at a low level of total volume”, providing bottom support for the recovery of the car market. However, September faced a high base in the same period last year — the rush to buy in September 2025 before subsidies were stopped in some regions drove retail sales to a record peak in that month, and the effects of the high base will further inhibit the recovery in September this year. Since the end of July, the cumulative increase in gasoline during the year has exceeded 830 yuan/ton, and the appeal of new electric vehicles is becoming stronger, and the willingness to consume fuel vehicles continues to be suppressed. Prices of upstream raw materials have declined somewhat. Coupled with the gradual deepening of the “anti-internal volume” consensus in the industry, upstream profits have skyrocketed; however, price pressure is transmitted from upstream to the vehicle end. Although inventories are not high, the pressure on dealers to operate continues to increase.

Wholesale sales trend of passenger car manufacturers across the country in September 2026

In the first week of 9, passenger car manufacturers across the country sold an average of 35,000 vehicles per day, down 21% from the same period in September last year, and up 13% from the same period last month.

From September 1 to 6, passenger car manufacturers across the country wholesale 207,000 vehicles, down 21% from the same period last year and up 13% from the same period last month; since this year, 17.39 million passenger cars have been sold, down 5% year on year.

As fuel vehicle retail sales continued to drop sharply, fuel vehicle production fell 47% in the first week of September. As a result, manufacturer sales were generally sluggish, and fuel vehicle manufacturers' wholesale sales fell 53% in the first week. Most NEV brands currently lack popular models, but manufacturers also need a stable production pace. As a huge industrial chain system, it is impossible to simply schedule production according to orders; they also need to consider production and sales targets. Most manufacturer sales and direct order sales have been converted to target sales, and sales targets for some models must be achieved without a backlog of orders, so direct retail sales by manufacturers were also low in the first week.