中国购车家庭收支洞察报告之结婚篇：婚姻保留车辆蝴蝶效应

The Retentional MarriageVehicle “Butterfly Effect” Insights on Household Income &Expense of Chinese Car Buyers –Marriage (2025) TengYi Research Institute Authors Lijun Zhou Director/Chief Analystzhoulijun1@yiche.com Ying Gao Industry Analystgaoying1@yiche.com Industry Analystshibenya@yiche.com Between 2020 and 2024, average marriage expenditure for Chinesecar-buying households exceeded RMB1.3 million, more than 20times over 30 years ago, but annual marriage expenditure declinedduring those years, down to RMB1.16 million in 2024 Over the past four decades or so, China’s economy experienced a meteoric rise, driving up marriage-re-lated expenses of car-buying households. In the 1990s, China’s private sector flourished, with earlywealthy entrepreneurs transforming into primary consumers of the car market. By the late 1990s, marriageexpenditure (for first marriages) of Chinese car-buying families rapidly exceeded RMB100,000. During thefirst decade of the 21st century, favorable factors such as China’s accession to the WTO and widespreadinternet adoption propelled the economy forward. Household incomes increased significantly, making homeand car purchases standard features for Chinese newlywedsleading to a sharp rise in marriage costs.Between 2000 and 2004, expenditures surpassed RMB200,000, and between 2005 and 2009, theyexceeded RMB400,000. With the upgrade of the internet industry to an “Internet Plus” ecosystem andthe rapid proliferation of mobile internet, China’s economy and household income accelerated further.From 2010 to 2014, marriage-related expenses of car-buying households broke through RMB700,000.Subsequently, China’s housing prices experienced explosive growth, and between 2015 and 2019,marriage costs successfully surpassed RMB1 million. In 2020, the sudden outbreak of COVID-19completely disrupted the rhythm of Chinese residents’ lives. Many individuals planning to study abroadstayed home, which directly pushed up the prices of school district housing and indirectly boosted overallproperty prices. The pandemic also disrupted the production rhythm of various industries, leading toshortages of many components and pushing up prices of cars and related products. As a result, marriageexpenses in that year surged to nearly RMB1.6 million. Following this, the ongoing pandemic stalemate anda sharp slowdown in China’s economic growth caused marriage-related expenditures of car-buyinghouseholds to decline rapidly. By 2024, they dropped to RMB1.16 million but remained at a high levelexceeding RMB1 million; “Success also breeds failure,” as the saying goes. The Chinese auto industry was once one of the mainbeneficiaries of continuous growth in marriage-related expenses. However, the recent rapid decline inthese costs has partly led to difficulties in the Chinese car market. Over the next 5-10 years, how will therelationship between marriage and the car market evolve? Can new opportunities emerge from thisdynamic? How should carmakers plan strategically to seize these new opportunities? In some regions of China, marriage gift packages include marriage vehiclesfor example, the groomoffers RMB300,000 in marriage gifts, including RMB200,000 for a car. Since TengYi Research Institutespecializes solely in the car market, and to provide more targeted insights for carmakers, dealers andother clients of TengYi Technology, we have separately highlighted marriage vehicle expenditures.Therefore, this report’s definition of marriage expenses includes three related items: housing, vehicleand betrothal giftscollectively referred to as the “Big 3 Marriage Items.”� Per-Capita Disposable Income of Chinese NationalResidents & Marriage Expenditure of Chinese Car BuyingHouseholds 1990-2024 (RMB10K) Marriage Expenditure of Chinese CarBuying Households 2015-2024 (RMB10K) Marriage expenses for Chinese car-buying households remainat the RMB1 million-level with significant disparities in 2024,with high-end brands exceeding entry-level brands by overthree times, led by Porsche and Land Rover Marriage expenses for car-buying families in China in 2024 remained at a high level of around RMB1 million,with significant disparities among different segments. For high-end, volume and entry-level brands, theywere RMB2.5 million, RMB1.07 million and RMB780,000, respectively, with expenses at high-end brandsexceeding those at entry-level brands by more than three-fold. The largest discrepancy among the“three-items” (housing,betrothal gifts and vehicle) was housing, with high-end brands costing over RMB2million, while entry-level brands were less than RMB600,000. The smallest difference was in betrothal gifts,with high-end brands at RMB134,400 and entry-level brands at RMB100,200. A house seems to be thereal-life “Magpie Bridge,” making the couple’s union seem out of reach; In 2024, marriage-related expenditure for families purchasing Porsches and Land Rovers reached RMB3.5-4million, leading the rankings of mainstream brands. Many P