Along with the increase of car ownership, China’s used car market entered into a period of rapid development. In 2014, the volume and amount of used car trading in China were recorded at 6.05 million vehicles (up 16.3% year on year) and RMB367.6 billion (up 26.1% year on year), respectively. In H1 2015, the market continued to grow, with trading volume and amount rising 15.1% and 8.3%, respectively, on a year-on-year basis. Estimated at an average vehicle replacement cycle of 5-6 years, China’s used car market is expected to usher in accelerated growth in the next few years, with trading volume to exceed 10 million vehicles by 2017.
By segment, China’s used car market characterizes the two below:
Sedan becomes the subject of the market. In 2014, the volume of used sedan trading in China was 3.51 million vehicles, accounting for 58% of the total; the amount of used sedan trading came to RMB227.9 billion, representing the largest proportion (62%) of the total.
SUV grows at the fastest pace. In 2014, the volume of used SUV trading in China attained 200,000 vehicles, up 25% from a year ago. The growth rate will be around 38% during 2015-2018 to make SUV the fastest-growing used car market segment.
With respect to trading channels, China is intensifying the market layout of used car trading market, used car dealers, used car online trading platform, etc. Among them, used car e-commerce market has grown obviously fast, with trading volume and amount approximating 350,000 vehicles and RMB19.26 billion in 2014, a respective year-on-year surge of 58.4% and 60.3%.
