China aims to double used car market by 2025

China aims to double its used car market to 2 trillion yuan ($306 billion) with yearly sales of 25 million cars by slashing taxes on secondhand car dealings, Bloomberg reported in its January story titled China Wants to Build a $306 Billion Used-Car Market From Scratch.

Although China has more than 270 million vehicles on its roads, only an estimated 15 million secondhand models were sold in 2019. That's in sharp contrast to places such as Australia, the UK and the US, where people buy more used cars than new ones, Bloomberg said.

In China, buying a first car or first home was typically a big deal, a declaration of social status and a symbol that not only the person but also the whole family had arrived. In recent years that mindset has shifted, Bloomberg pointed out, and forking over extra money for a new car when a perfectly good secondhand one is available is considered to make more economic sense by more Chinese. The changing attitudes will ignite demand for used cars, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.

Uxin, a Nasdaq-listed used car e-commerce site, saw total sales of 2,653 vehicles for the three months ending Sept 30, versus 1,702 in the second quarter of 2020. "Secondhand trading will definitely accelerate over the next five years, and the policy changes are enabling companies like ours to grow," Dai Kun, chairman of Uxin, said.

China's used car market saw steady growth, said Luo Lei, deputy secretary general of CADA, adding the surge in used car inventory and policy support will ensure the growth, and digital technology and mobile internet will also be facilitators.