Chinas economy may have slowed, but its passenger car population is growing as fast as ever – good news for lubricant suppliers in a market that has shrunk.
A record 27.5 million new passenger cars were registered in 2016, and the number of cars owned increased by a net of 22.1 million, also an all-time high, according to a press release issued last week by the Ministry of Public Securitys Department of Traffic Control. Passenger car registrations reached 194 million.
Total motor vehicle registrations reached 360 million. China has the worlds largest vehicle population. The United States is second with 260 million registered vehicles in 2014.
The rapid growth of Chinas vehicle population helped to greatly expand its lubricant demand in the first one and a half decades of this century, but lube demand decreased from 2014 levels as the nations economic growth slowed. Economists and the national government agree that Chinas days of double-digit economic growth are probably done.
Nevertheless, vehicle ownership – especially private ownership of passenger cars – is still expanding. The proportion of new registrations that were for passenger cars reached 66 percent – up from 50 percent five years ago. Private car ownership increased by 22.1 million, 15 percent, to 146 million.
With the vehicle population growing so fast, its not surprising that a high number of people are new owners. Of 360 million registered vehicle drivers, 33.1 million have less than less than a year of driving experience.
Managing traffic apparently will be an ongoing challenge for urban areas. Forty-nine Chinese cities now have more than 1 million registered vehicles. Eighteen have more than 2 million and six have more than 3 million.