China Car Dealers Say Showrooms Empty as Domestic Sales Fall 21.7%

Beijing car dealer Li Ke has worked in showrooms for 26 years, and this autumn he says only the Covid-19 pandemic made business slower. Dealerships across the Chinese capital sit quiet during what is normally the busiest buying stretch of the year.

Li said his lot at a dealership complex outside Beijing now closes two to three sales a week, down from deals signed daily in past years. He moved the business from a costly street-front location to a cheaper space with fewer visitors to preserve cash. He said he sees little room to cut prices further.

Passenger car retail sales in China reached 13.33 million units in the first nine months of 2026, down 21.7% from a year earlier, according to the China Passenger Car Association. The association projects full-year domestic retail sales of 18.5 million vehicles, a 22% decline that would fall below the level recorded in the first pandemic year. New-energy vehicle sales, which include electric cars, fell 12.8% from January through September.

Buyers cite an unstable job market and falling property prices, Li said. He added that the government has scaled back cash-for-clunkers subsidies and electric vehicle tax breaks. "Customers are watching every penny," Li said. "Because of the bad economy, people are taking more time to replace their cars."

Price competition has pushed Chinese automakers to look abroad, and analysts said Beijing worries about coordinated trade barriers from the United States and Europe on its car exports. Industrial profits rose 15.5% in the first nine months of 2026 from a year earlier, National Bureau of Statistics data show, while auto manufacturing profits in that period fell 22.8%.

The China Passenger Car Association's full-year forecast of 18.5 million vehicles would mark a decline from 2025. Li said buyers weigh new features against cost before committing, and that he does not see impulse purchases.

Chinese buyers would rather wait, Li said.