China to have over 300 mln registered automobiles by year-end

HEFEI - China, the world's largest automobile market, is expected to have more than 300 million registered automobiles by the end of this year, an official with the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Saturday.

By the end of September, China already had 297 million registered automobiles, Shi Jianhua, deputy secretary general of CAAM, said during a forum at the World Manufacturing Convention held in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province.

China's automobile market will continue to see stable growth in the future, with an expected 4 percent average annual growth for the five years to 2025, Shi said.

Also at the forum, which focused on new energy vehicle industry development, experts noted that China's automobile market is the largest in the world, and its automobile production, sales and possession have ranked first globally for many consecutive years.

Statistics showed that from January to October, the cumulative production and sales volumes of new energy vehicles increased by about 1.8 times year on year in China. New energy vehicles accounted for 11 percent of the gross car sales.

A report on China's new energy vehicle industry was released at the forum, saying that after about 20 years of development, China's new energy vehicle industry is entering the market-driven growth phase, and marching towards a new stage of high-quality development.