Life in Mainland China
Cars and car companies: a Chinese conversation with pinyin
The size of China's car market, new energy vehicles and green plates, and the main carmakers.
Play: Cars and car companiesThe conversation
Speakers: Yating and Haoran.
- Yating
你路上盯着每一辆挂绿牌的车看什么呢？
What are you staring at every green-plate car on the road for?
- Haoran
绿牌是新能源车啊。你看，它比蓝牌多一个字呢。
Green plates are for new energy vehicles. See, they've got an extra character compared to blue plates.
- Yating
2025年卖出的新车里，新能源车大概占了多少比例？
Out of all the new cars sold in 2025, about what percentage were new energy vehicles?
- 47.9% 47.9%
- 27.9% 27.9%
- 67.9% 67.9%
Answer
47.9% 47.9%
- Haoran
47.9%。一共卖了1649万辆。你翻过我的资料了吧！
47.9%. Total sales hit 16.49 million. You've been looking through my notes, haven't you!
- Yating
没办法，谁让你把资料落在我桌上了。
Can't help it, who told you to leave your notes on my desk.
- Haoran
比亚迪在2022年3月就停产纯燃油车了，2025年卖了460万辆车。
BYD stopped making pure gas cars back in March 2022, and they sold 4.6 million vehicles in 2025.
- Yating
那还有谁？挑重点说。
Who else is there? Hit me with the highlights.
- Haoran
杭州的吉利，芜湖的奇瑞，保定的长城，还有上海的上汽。
Geely in Hangzhou, Chery in Wuhu, Great Wall in Baoding, and SAIC in Shanghai.
- Yating
这可一点都不短。
That is not short at all.
- Haoran
还有蔚小理，以及那几家造手机的。
Then there's NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto, plus those phone makers.
- Yating
造手机的？
Phone makers?
- Haoran
小米在2024年3月发布了第一辆车，SU7。
Xiaomi dropped their first car, the SU7, in March 2024.
- Yating
那我用的手机品牌现在也开始造车了？我的车以后也得更新系统吗？
So the brand of phone I use is making cars now? Am I gonna have to update my car's OS too?
- Haoran
它都已经更新过三次了。
It's already had three updates.
Words in the conversation
Notes
The market
In 2025 China produced about 34.53 million vehicles and sold about 34.40 million, both records. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said China was the world's largest car market for the 17th year in a row. New energy vehicles (NEVs: battery-electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell) sold 16.49 million in 2025, up 28.2 percent, and made up 47.9 percent of new vehicle sales. China exported about 2.6 million NEVs in 2025, double the year before.
Green plates
NEVs carry green number plates; ordinary cars carry blue ones. Green plates were first issued on 1 December 2016 in five pilot cities: Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuxi, Jinan and Shenzhen. In November 2017 the Ministry of Public Security announced they would be issued in every city. A green plate has one more character than a blue one; small NEVs have a graded green plate, large ones yellow and green.
BYD and Geely
BYD stopped making combustion-only cars in March 2022 and now makes battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars; it sold 4,602,436 NEVs in 2025, more than 1 million of them abroad. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group was founded in 1986 and is based in Hangzhou. It bought Volvo Cars from Ford on 2 August 2010 for US$1.8 billion.
SAIC, Chery and Great Wall
SAIC Motor (Shanghai) runs joint ventures with Volkswagen and General Motors, and took over Nanjing Automobile at the end of 2007, which brought it the British MG brand. Foreign brands have long built cars in China in partnership with Chinese groups. Chery (Wuhu, Anhui) exported 1,344,020 vehicles in 2025, up 17.4 percent, and sold more than 2.8 million in all. Great Wall Motor (Baoding, Hebei) sold about 1.32 million vehicles in 2025.
NIO
NIO's main offices are in Shanghai. Its cars can have a flat battery swapped for a charged one at its Power Swap Stations: 3,054 stations and more than 61 million swaps at the end of 2024, and a station can do up to 480 swaps a day. It added a second brand, ONVO, in May 2024, and a small-car brand, firefly.
XPeng and Li Auto
XPeng (Guangzhou) was founded in 2015; its first car, the G3, was delivered in December 2018, and it is known for driver assistance software. Li Auto (Beijing) was founded in April 2015. It is known for extended-range electric vehicles, which carry a small petrol engine that charges the battery; volume production began with the Li ONE in November 2019. It had delivered 1,540,215 cars by the end of 2025.
Xiaomi and Huawei
The phone maker Xiaomi launched its first car, the SU7 saloon, on 28 March 2024, at a starting price of 215,900 yuan, and delivered 139,547 in 2024. Huawei's Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) delivered 89,611 cars in December 2025.
Cars and car companies
The size of China's car market, new energy vehicles and green plates, and the main carmakers.
About what share of new vehicles sold in China in 2025 were new energy vehicles?
Answer
About 48%. CAAM reported a 47.9 percent share, 16.49 million NEVs.
What colour are number plates for new energy vehicles?
Answer
Green. Green plates began in five pilot cities in December 2016; ordinary cars have blue plates.
Which carmaker stopped making combustion-only cars in March 2022?
Answer
BYD. BYD now makes only battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars.
Which Swedish brand has Geely owned since 2010?
Answer
Volvo Cars. Geely bought Volvo Cars from Ford on 2 August 2010 for US$1.8 billion.
What does NIO offer at its Power Swap Stations?
Answer
A charged battery in place of a flat one. NIO had 3,054 swap stations and more than 61 million swaps by the end of 2024.
Which electronics company launched the SU7 car in March 2024?
Answer
Xiaomi. Xiaomi delivered 139,547 SU7s in 2024.
Li Auto is known for which kind of car?
Answer
Extended-range electric, with a petrol engine that charges the battery. Its Li ONE began volume production in November 2019.
Which British car brand belongs to SAIC Motor?
Answer
MG. SAIC took over Nanjing Automobile, owner of MG, at the end of 2007.