Statistical Analysis on China’s Vehicles and Drivers in the First Half of 2009

Statistical Analysis on China’s Vehicles and Drivers in the First Half of 2009

July 08, 2009

So far this year, in order to cope with the international financial crisis, and ensure steady and rapid economic growth, the State Council and relevant departments have formulated a series of vehicle consumption policies, which has effectively stimulated the vehicle market and preliminarily reversed the downward trend in the second half of 2008, with the vehicle population witnessing a comparatively rapid upward tendency. Up to the end of June in 2009, the number of China vehicle population has reached 176,551,129, among which there are 69,626,031 vehicles, 91,226,621 motorcycles, 1,035,036 trailers, 14,641,767 tractors that are driven on the roads and other 21,647 motor vehicles. China motor vehicle drivers have totaled 188,836,242, among which there are 129,147,722 vehicle drivers. To conduct comprehensive analysis, the vehicle population and number changes of the drivers in the first half of 2009 show the following main characteristics:

1. Motor vehicle population has maintained the trend of rapid growth. Comparing to the end of 2008, the vehicle population has increased by 6,663,385, or up 3.92% in the first half of 2009, and the increment quality is higher than that of last year, with 4,953,978 vehicles and cars 1,688,846 motorcycles increased, and the growth rate is 7.66% and 1.89%, respectively. In comparison with that of in the same period of last year, China motor vehicle population has increased by 10,837,782, or up 6.54% this year. Since February this year, the motor vehicle population has been increased rapidly in five consecutive months. The average monthly growth stood at 1,110,564, significantly higher than the average monthly increment of 695,732 in the second half of last year. To analyze the reasons, from the beginning of February, influenced by the fuel tax reform and purchase tax cut policy for small displacement vehicles, the motor vehicle increment has witnessed significant rebound. The implementation of policy on vehicles and motorcycles applied in rural areas since March in particular has further promoted the rapid growth of motor vehicles. The public security organs have promoted the comprehensive "one window" mode services of vehicle management station, provided the measures of opening the admissibility of the Internet business, expanded operation rights of vehicle management station at the county-level, and established a range of convenient service measures for urban and rural residents such as the countryside service points for vehicles and motorcycles with the aim of conducting vehicle license plates, which further improved the efficiency of vehicle license plates as well as service level for the masses .

2. The vehicle population accounted for more proportion of the total number of motor vehicles. In the 1st half of 2009, China vehicle population has reached 69,626,031, increased by 4,953,978 vehicles, or up 7.66%, which increased by 8,404,281 vehicles with the increase rate of 13.73% in comparison with the same period of last year. China motorcycle population has reached 91,226,621, increased by 1,688,846 motorcycles with an increase rate of 1.89% in comparison with the same period of last year. Observing from the proportion, we can notice that the vehicle population accounted for 39.44% of the total, up 1.37 percentage points in comparison with that at the end of 2008; the motorcycle population has accounted for 51.67% of the total, down 1.03 percentage points in comparison with that at the end of 2008.

3. The population of small passenger service vehicles and light-duty vehicles undergone rapid growth. Stimulated by the purchase tax reduction and the “automobile subsidy for the rural areas" policy, the number of small passenger service vehicles and light-duty vehicles grew rapidly. In the first half of 2009, the population of small passenger service vehicles in China hit 36,969,257, up 4,157,868 or 12.67%, compared with that of the end of last year; the number of domestic light-duty vehicles amounted to 6,947,497, an increase of 492,468 or 7.63% over the end of 2008.

4. Private automobile ownership increased gradually. In the first half of 2009, national private vehicle population numbered 135,653,967, accounting for 76.84% of the total population of vehicles, an increase of 6,305,718, or up by 4.65% as compared with that of the end of 2008, namely, a year-on-year increase of 9,998,291, or up 7.96%. There were 46,243,331 private automobiles in total, accounting for 66.42% of the automobile population, up by 1.89 percentage points since the end of 2008, or a year-on-year increase of 2.96 percentage points.

5. Imported vehicle population maintained steady growth. In the first half of 2009, the imported vehicle population nationwide numbered 2,830,468, among which 2,389,107 were imported automobiles, or 84.41% of the total population of imported vehicles, an increase of 131,616, or up by 5.83% as compared with that of the end of 2008, namely, an increase of 272,121, up by 12.85% year on year.

6. The number of vehicle drivers continued to increase rapidly. There were 8,175,506 more vehicle drivers in the first half of 2009, an increase of 4.53% as compared with that of the end of 2008, namely an increase of 16,406,314, or up by 9.51% year on year. The automobile drivers numbered 129,147,722, accounting for 68.39% of the total number of vehicle drivers, or 1.85 times the number of the automobiles. The number of automobile drivers increased by 7,055,590, or up by 5.78% as compared with that of the end of 2008, and there was an increase of 14,508,856 or up by 12.66% over the same period last year.