China added 27.53 million newly registered motor vehicles in the first three quarters of this year, the Ministry of Public Security said on Tuesday.
It represents a year-on-year increase of 4.36 million units, or 18.83 percent, said the ministry.
It brought the national motor vehicle ownership to 390 million units by September 2021, including 297 million cars, showed the latest statistics.
More than 16 million passenger cars were registered in the first three quarters, up 23.76 percent from the same period of last year. The total number of passenger cars on the road reached 256 million as of September, and 237 million of these were privately-owned small and mini ones.
With 1.87 million new registrations in the nine months, ownership of new-energy vehicles climbed to 6.78 million. Among them, 5.52 million were all-electric ones, accounting for 81.53 percent.
Licensed motor-vehicle drivers reached 476 million as of September, of whom 439 million were car drivers, the ministry added.
More than 26 million of them obtained their driver's licenses in the first three quarters, up 7.39 million, or 38.26 percent, from the same period last year.
Nearly 71 percent of China's licensed drivers were aged between 26 and 50, 14 percent were between 51 and 60, and another 3.6 percent were aged above 60, said the statistics.
As of September, 76 Chinese cities had more than 1 million registered cars each, seven more cities than end-September last year. Beijing has more than 6 million cars, and Chengdu and Chongqing each has more than 5 million, said the ministry.
Traffic management departments across the country have continued promoting online services amid regular epidemic control measures, with over 23.5 million online applications related to vehicle registration and driver's licenses processed in the third quarter, up 30.04 percent year on year. Enditem
