Electric vehicles reach 67% of new car sales in China

New energy vehicles (NEVs, which include battery electrics and plug-in hybrids) accounted for 67% of retail sales of new cars in China in September 2026, a historic record, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) released on October 12 and reported by Carbon Brief. The agency counted 1.084 million NEVs sold in the domestic market, a 16.7% annual decline, against a total market of 1.603 million units, 28% less than a year earlier, according to Just Auto.

The record share does not come from a rise in electric sales, but from a steeper fall in combustion sales. Combustion-engine cars and non-plug-in hybrids fell 43% year on year to 519,000 units in September, while the CPCA series shows that NEVs went from 6% of sales in 2020 to 58% so far in 2026. The CPCA attributes part of the contraction to higher gasoline prices after the start of the Strait of Hormuz crisis and to a high comparison base from the 2025 trade-in incentives. For the region, the signal is twofold: a market substituting gasoline at this speed changes the trajectory of crude demand that underpins the value of Brent and the Mexican Mix, and Chinese vehicle exports become a direct competitor to the automotive chain that Mexico supplies to the United States.

The trade figures amplify the reading. NEV exports reached 558,000 units in September, a rise of 163.5% year on year, and total 3.887 million in the first nine months of the year, 138.8% more than in 2025, according to the CPCA. NEVs accounted for 60.8% of all Chinese passenger car exports in the month. The agency notes that exports have become, in its terms, a central priority for some manufacturers, in a context of weak domestic demand and intense competition.

Countries such as Mexico and Turkey have applied tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, and the European Union maintains its own scheme, Carbon Brief notes. That is the point to watch: record domestic sales in China and the rise in its export flow define the pressure on crude and on the regional automotive network at the same time.

This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.