On September 10, the China Automobile Manufacturers Association (CAAM) announced August 2026 auto market data, recording the historic breakthrough of the new energy vehicle (NEV) segment along with vibrant export activities.
In August 2026 alone, the entire Chinese car market recorded production of 2.684 million vehicles and consumption of 2.712 million units. The main driving force comes from the NEV segment with production reaching 1.653 million units and sales reaching 1.643 million units, both increasing by nearly 20% compared to the same period last year. With this result, the proportion of new energy vehicles has reached a record milestone of 60.6% of total car consumption in the whole market.
Assessing the positive results, Deputy Secretary General of CAAM Tran Si Hoa said that the consumption stimulus subsidy policies continuously upgraded by many localities have created a clear push for the monthly sales growth momentum.
In general, in the first 8 months of 2026, the scale of the country's automobile industry reached 20.255 million vehicles produced and 20.315 million vehicles consumed, slightly down compared to the same period in 2025. Contrary to the stagnation trend of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, the new energy vehicle line still maintained a growth rate of over 10% with 10.668 million vehicles produced and 10.65 million vehicles sold. Accumulated for 8 months, the NEV proportion contributed up to 52.4% of total new car sales.
In parallel with domestic expansion, China's car exports recorded the third consecutive month exceeding the milestone of 1 million units. In August alone, the number of cars exported reached 1.01 million units, an increase of 65.3% compared to the same period in 2025, of which the NEV group accounted for more than half with 526,000 units, an increase of 1.3 times.
Since the beginning of the year, Chinese automakers have exported more than 7.15 million cars of all kinds, of which the NEV segment alone reached 3.435 million units, an increase of 1.2 times compared to the same period last year.
