How many Chinese private cars are in the end?

On July 19, the Ministry of Public Security website published a message that sources said that with the rapid socio-economic development of our country and the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, the automobileization process has been accelerating and the consumption demand for motor vehicles has been strong. As of the end of June 2011, the total number of motor vehicles in the country reached 217 million. Among them, 98.86 million vehicles and 102 million motorcycles.

The most surprising news released by the Ministry of Public Security Administration of Communications is that as of the end of June, the total number of private cars in the country reached 72.06 million, accounting for 73.2% of the total vehicle ownership, which was an increase of 1.21 percentage points from the end of 2010.

For a time, many media and websites have given the title of “China’s private cars exceed 70 million vehicles” and have made a lot of noise.

However, this news from the Ministry of Public Security committed a common-sense error, confusing private cars with private cars and posing a big oolong.

Private cars and private cars are two different concepts. Whether a car is a private car or a bus is determined by the owner’s identity when registered at the vehicle management office. If it is registered in the name of an organization, group, or unit, it is a bus. If it is registered in the name of an individual, it is a private car. The ownership belongs to the individual and is privately owned.

There are both commercial trucks for trucks and passenger cars for cars in private cars. The former are mainly production materials, while the latter are subsistence materials. The taxis in many domestic cities (quoting picture parameters) are private cars and are registered and purchased in the name of individuals. These cars also belong to the production materials.

The so-called private car is a concept from Hong Kong, mainly referring to domestic vehicles. The model is mainly based on sedans. There are also some off-road vehicles and small loaves.

It can be seen that private cars are only part of private cars and their number is much smaller than that of private cars. This news from the Ministry of Public Security clearly confuses these two concepts and misidentifies private cars as private cars.

The Chinese private car knows how many national statistical bureaus of the National Bureau of Statistics statistics once each year, one of which is the number of Chinese civilian vehicles. The 2010 National Economic Statistics Communique pointed out that by the end of 2010, the number of civilian vehicles in the country had reached 90.86 million (including 12.34 million for three-wheeled vehicles and low-speed trucks), of which 65.39 million were private cars. The number of civilian cars was 40.29 million, of which 34.43 million were private cars.

The data of the National Bureau of Statistics mainly comes from the data on car licenses held by the Ministry of Public Security. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Public Security, as of the end of June this year, the country has a total of 98.46 million civilian vehicles, including about 13 million three-wheel vehicles and low-speed trucks, which we call agricultural vehicles. With the deduction of agricultural vehicles, the number of domestic civilian vehicles is approximately 85 million.

Of the more than 85 million civilian vehicles, 72.06 million are private cars and there are about 13 million buses. However, of the 72.06 million private cars, the number of private cars was in the end, and the Ministry of Public Security’s data did not explain.

According to the ratio of private cars accounting for 52.65% of private cars at the end of last year, as of the end of June, the number of private cars was about 38 million. In other words, there are only 38 million private cars in China instead of 72 million.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of private cars in China at the end of 2003 was 4.3 million. There was no relevant data before. In 2001, the country’s total car ownership was 18.02 million, including 7.71 million private cars. It is estimated that there are only 1 or 2 million private cars.

Since China's accession to the WTO at the end of 2001, car consumption has begun to shift toward personal consumption. Since 2002, with the support of individual consumption, the Chinese automobile industry has maintained a rapid growth for nearly 10 years, and the average annual increase in automobile production and sales has been more than 20%. In 2002, the production and sales of domestic automobiles were only 3.25 million, and in 2010 they both exceeded 18 million.

At the same time, private cars have also increased from one or two million vehicles to the current 38 million. The ever-increasing ownership rate of private cars reflects that with the economic and social development, the people’s material living standards have been continuously improved, and private cars have become increasingly popular as a means of transportation for people to travel.

The growth rate of private cars is a bit fast. According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security, in the first half of this year, the country’s car ownership increased by 7.6 million vehicles (including agricultural vehicles), which is higher than the increase of 6.88 million vehicles in the first half of last year, of which cars increased by 6.51 million vehicles. In Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, Tianjin and other 11 cities (quotation image parameters), the number of cars held exceeded 1 million, of which Beijing reached 4.64 million.

There are 128 vehicles for thousands of people worldwide. According to China’s vehicle ownership at the end of June, the number of vehicles owned by thousands of Chinese people is about 63, which is equivalent to half of the world average.

Due to the basic conditions of the Chinese population with less land and more land, such a low level of car ownership has brought tremendous pressure on urban transport and the environment. Traffic jams and air pollution have become a lingering nightmare for many domestic cities.

Following Beijing’s restrictions on the purchase of cars, some cities in the country are also preparing to take measures to ease traffic congestion.

In some big cities, the contradiction between the excessive growth of automobiles and the lack of roads has become increasingly prominent. Therefore, China's auto consumption model must also be changed. Encouraging purchase and rational use will become the future direction of development.