China Unveils Seven-Department Plan to Expand Auto Consumption Across Full Chain

The Ministry of Commerce and six other departments jointly issued an implementation opinion on promoting the expansion and upgrading of commodity consumption, proposing innovative approaches to vehicle use management and full-chain expansion of auto consumption. The opinion sets out systematic measures in areas including cultivating and strengthening the auto aftermarket, improving inter-departmental information-sharing mechanisms, refining the used-car circulation management system, and improving new-energy vehicle charging infrastructure.

China's auto production and sales have ranked first worldwide for 17 consecutive years, with the vehicle fleet reaching 370 million. In 2025, both production and sales exceeded 34 million units, and new-energy vehicles accounted for more than 50% of domestic new-car sales. In the same year, used-car transactions surpassed the 20 million mark for the first time. In the first half of 2026, 3.707 million vehicles were traded in under the auto trade-in program.

Auto consumption spans new-car sales, used-car transfers, maintenance and repair, finance and insurance, modification and upgrading, and end-of-life recycling and dismantling. Passenger vehicles aged over seven years now account for more than 50% of the fleet. Integrated "auto-plus" formats such as vehicle modification, recreational vehicle camping, and motorsport events have emerged. The recycling and dismantling segment involves enterprise qualification management and resource recycling.

Retail sales of automotive goods account for about 10% of total retail sales of consumer goods. Pilot reforms for auto circulation and consumption are being advanced. A full-lifecycle automotive information exchange system covering sales, registration, repair, insurance, and scrapping is being established, and the standards system is still being improved.