China Motor Vehicle Parc Rises to More Than 176.5M Units

5 July 2009

Xinhua. China’s motor vehicle parc has risen to more than 176.5 million units, and more than 188.8 million Chinese (>14%) of the population has learned to drive, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Other statistics:

• The number of motor vehicles increased by 3.92% in the first half of 2009—a slightly higher rate of increase than the same period last year.

• Sales of small passenger cars and cargo vehicles increased more than 12% and more than 7.5% respectively.

• Private motor vehicles represent nearly 77% of the total, a 4.65% increase over 2008.

• More than 8 million people learned to drive in the past six months, up 9.51% over last year.

• Nearly 70% of the total drivers (more than 129 million) are motor car drivers.

The line shows the US vehicles/1,000 people for the first part of the 20th century. The data points show the vehicles/1,000 people for different countries in 1996 and 2007. Source: TEDB. Click to enlarge.

By comparison, the US vehicle parc is about 251 million units (in 2006), according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The US has about 844 vehicles per 1,000 people (in 2007), according to Edition 28 of the Transportation Energy Data Book (TEDB), published by the US Department of Energy.

In 2007, China had about 30 vehicles per 1,000 people (up from 9 per 1,000 in 1996), according to the TEDB—about the same penetration as the US had in 1916 (see chart at right).