China's new energy passenger vehicle market set a fresh milestone in September, with the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) reporting retail sales of 1.084 million NEV passenger cars and a retail penetration rate of 67.0 percent, an all-time high for the domestic market.
The September result means the NEV share of monthly new passenger car sales has now exceeded 60 percent for three consecutive months, underscoring the accelerating shift from gasoline to electric vehicles in China.
The broader industry data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) point in the same direction: in September, national NEV production and sales reached 1.814 million and 1.823 million units respectively, up 12.2 percent and 13.6 percent year on year, with monthly NEV penetration of new car sales hitting a record 61.6 percent.
Market analysts describe the current landscape as one of rapidly shrinking gasoline vehicle sales alongside resilient NEV growth, with high fuel prices further speeding up the oil-to-electric substitution. With penetration repeatedly breaking records, competition is shifting from sheer volume toward technology, cost control and overseas expansion.
Source: CPCA and CAAM data, as reported by Chinese market media, October 2026.
