Car sales in China are falling sharply, and a Beijing salesman says business is the slowest he has seen in 26 years, according to a CNBC report.
Salesman Li Ke told CNBC that his showroom on the outskirts of Beijing now signs two to three deals a week. He said that in past years, the store would sign deals every day. He called the drop "dramatic." Li said the 2026 "golden September and silver October" season, usually the peak buying period, has been the slowest of his career apart from the Covid-19 pandemic.
CNBC reports that the China Passenger Car Association recorded 13.33 million passenger car retail sales through September, down 21.7% from a year earlier. The association projects full-year domestic passenger car retail sales will fall 22% to 18.5 million vehicles.
According to CNBC, car salespeople attribute the weak demand to an unstable job market, a continued slide in property prices and reduced government incentives, including cash-for-clunkers subsidies and tax breaks for electric vehicles. Electric and other new-energy vehicle sales also fell 12.8% from January through September, the association said.
Li said customers are weighing practicality and long-term value, and that buyers are taking longer to replace their cars. CNBC also reports that analysts link fierce price competition to Chinese carmakers' push into overseas markets, and that Beijing worries about coordinated trade barriers from the U.S. and Europe.