China’s automobile production and sales rose month on month in May, with exports surging 68.7 percent from a year earlier, industry data showed Wednesday.
During the period, automobile production and sales reached 2.616 million units and 2.629 million units respectively, up 1.6 percent and 4.1 percent month on month, while down 1.2 percent and 2.1 percent year on year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
The country's automobile exports continued to see robust growth in May, with monthly exports reaching 930,000 units, up 68.7 percent year on year, including 446,000 new energy vehicles (NEVs), which more than doubled from a year earlier. The export volume maintained above 900,000 units for two consecutive months, data showed.
The NEV output rose 22.4 percent year on year to 1.554 million units, while sales increased 14.4 percent to 1.496 million units, according to the data.
NEVs accounted for 56.9 percent of total new car sales in May, further climbing from the previous month.
In the first five months, vehicle exports reached 4.059 million units, up 63 percent year on year. NEV exports reached 1.833 million units, accounting for 45 percent of total automobile exports.
China's auto exports surge 68.7 pct in May as output, sales rise
China has recorded ten consecutive quarters of growth in imports and exports with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the data for the second quarter of this year from the General Administration of Customs GAC) showed on Tuesday.
China's trade with ASEAN reached 4.34 trillion yuan (about 640 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2026, marking an 18.2-percent increase compared to the same period of last year, according to GAC.
"In the first half of this year, China's imports and exports with ASEAN stood at 4.34 trillion yuan, up 18.2 percent year on year on. Of this total, imports and exports in the second quarter accounted for 2.37 trillion yuan which represented a year-on-year growth of 20.2 percent and marking the 10th consecutive quarter of growth.," said Lyu Daliang, a spokesman for the customs bureau, at a press briefing.
"China and ASEAN have continuously strengthened infrastructure connectivity. In the first half of the year, China's imports and exports with ASEAN via the new western land-sea corridor grew by 18.2 percent, with railway and highway transport increasing by 24.7 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively," Lyu said.
Established in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor-Leste.
China records ten consecutive quarters of trade growth with ASEAN
