This statistic shows the annual change in used car unit sales in China from 2011 to 2017. In 2017, sales of used cars in China grew by about 19 percent compared to the previous year.
Global used car market – additional information
China is the largest automobile market worldwide, both in regard to production and sales. In 2014, the production volume of passenger cars in China had amounted to 19.92 million units, more than twice the number of Japan, the second largest automotive manufacturer in the world. Furthermore, approximately 23.5 million vehicles had been sold in China that year, nearly seven million more than the sales volume in the United States.
Although the used vehicle market in China has been growing steadily according to the graph at hand, it accounts for merely a small share of the whole automobile market in China. In 2014, the number of used cars sold in China had reached around six million units. Chinese customers viewed used cars much less favorably than buyers in developed countries. For example, the sales volume of used cars in the United Kingdom had reached 7.4 million in 2013, while only 2.3 million new cars had been sold there that year.
Moreover, Chinese consumers preferred younger second-hand cars. Less than 7.3 percent of used cars traded in China had been ten years of age or older in 2014. By contrast, consumers in the United Kingdom were more likely to buy older cars. The sales volume of used cars aged nine or above is highest in the U.K. used car market, reaching about 2.7 million units in 2013.
Nevertheless, growth in used car trade in China does not seem to have a significant impact on the domestic new car market. In 2015, car production in China had reached about 24.5 million cars.
