2020 (Q3) China: Total Number of Cars and Drivers

2020 (Q3): China had 365 million motorized vehicles on the road, including around 280 million cars, and in total 450 million licensed drivers.

2020 (Q3): China had 365 million motorized vehicles on the road, including around 280 million cars, and in total 450 million licensed drivers.
ยฉ Caliva / Wikimedia Commons

The total number of motorized vehicles, cars, and licensed drivers in China continued to increase sharply in 2020. Thus far in 2020, an additional 23 million new vehicles were registered for use on Chinese roads. The total number of passenger cars increased to over 270 million cars. The total number of licensed car drivers in China increased to 450 million.

Total Number of Vehicles Registered in China 2020 (Q3)

At the end of September 2020, the total number of motorized vehicles registered for use on roads in China reached a new high of 365 million vehicles according to the Ministry of Public Security. During the first three quarters of 2020, the total number of vehicles on Chinese roads increased by 2.41% or 23.16 million vehicles.

During the third quarter of 2020, vehicle registrations in China increased by 9.03 million vehicles for the best quarter thus far this year. In Q1, new registrations amounted to 8.36 million while the number was only 5.77 during Q2. For the full year 2020, new vehicle sales in China are expected to be only marginally lower than in 2019.

Total Number of Cars Registered in China in 2020

At the start of 2020, China had 260 million cars registered for use on public roads โ€” an increase of 8.83% from a year earlier. This number included 207 million private cars.

At the end of the first semester of 2020, China had 360 million vehicles on the road including over 270 million passenger cars and 68.9 million motorcycles. China had 4.17 million โ€œnew-energyโ€ cars in use at mid-2020.

During the first three quarters of 2020, the number of new passenger vehicle registrations in China increased by 13,112,40 million cars, a contraction of 12.5% compared to sales during the first nine months of 2019.

Although China and the USA have almost the same number of vehicles on the road, China has only 188 cars per 1,000 people compared to 838 per 1,000 in the USA.

Car Rich Cities in China in 2020

China has 69 cities with more than a million motorized vehicles. Of these, 12 have more than three million cars each.

The city with the largest number of vehicles in China in 2020 was Beijing with over 6 million vehicles. The second most car-rich city in China was Chengdu with over 5 million cars.

Total Number of Licensed Drivers in China in 2020

At the end of the third quarter of 2020, the total number of licensed motor vehicle drivers in China reached 450 million. During the third quarter of 2020, a total of 10.22 million people obtained Chinse driving licenses, including for cars, motorcycles, heavy, and commercial vehicles.

Mid-2020, China had 440 million licensed drivers. Of these Chinese drivers, 150 million were between 26 and 35 years old, 170 million from 36 to 50 years. Only 14 million, or 3.2%, were over 60.