2025中国汽车消费者洞察报告

McKinsey ChinaAuto ConsumerInsights 2025 About the report This report is based on a recent comprehensive survey of Chineseautomotive consumers. —We surveyed 2,498 consumers using online sampling. The survey ranfrom fourth quarter 2024 to first quarter 2025. —The sample covers 19 major cities across China representing a rangeof demographic attributes, including tier-one, -two, -three, and -fourcities, as well as North China, Northeast China, East China, Centraland South China, Southwest China, and Northwest China. —The report is divided into groups by age, income status, carpurchasing experience, existing car brands and types, and more.Based on the car purchasing decision-making process, the reportanalyzes consumers’ attitudes, brand preferences, purchasinghabits, and car experience in depth. AuthorsMingyu GuanDaniel BirkeThomas FangTony Zhou Introduction The Chinese auto market has made significant progress on the transition to electricvehicles (EVs) since the trend started in China about ten years ago. Electrification andsmartification have gained momentum, especially in the past five years, and lessons fromthe Chinese market can be extracted for the global automotive transformation. Indeed, thetechnological changes underway are not only influencing the preferences and behaviorsof Chinese consumers but also shaping the evolution of the global automotive industry. Forthe first time, Chinese consumers are defining the direction of a global industry. McKinsey has followed the changing preferences and behaviors of Chinese autoconsumers and studied the underlying drivers of this evolution for a decade. This reportdraws on the McKinsey China Auto Consumer Survey 2025 to reveal four primary insights(see sidebar, “About the report”): I.Competition is shifting from price to innovation.China’s automotive market iscaught in an escalating price war, but steep discounts have yielded only marginal salesgrowth. In contrast, consumers are actively embracing new models and cutting-edgetechnologies. This divergence suggests automakers may find more success competingthrough innovation than through relentless price cuts. II.Incumbents are starting to fall behind as the landscape reshuffles.Chinese OEMshave earned consumer recognition in the EV sector through technology innovation.While many incumbent multinational brands are still perceived as premium, someare struggling to convert their legacy appeal into pricing power for EVs. These globalplayers are faced with the challenge of building on the reputation they establishedduring the internal combustion engine (ICE)-only era to meet the needs of today’s smartand electrified automotive market. III.Plug-in hybrid and extended-range technologies have become mainstream in theelectrification trend.A growing number of battery electric vehicle (BEV) owners showregret about their BEV ownership experience, because they are dissatisfied with thecharging experience. But plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) and extended-range EVs (EREVs)are steadily gaining popularity because they offer an easy refueling experience and apractical solution to range anxiety. IV.Technological democratization is leading to scenario-based differentiation. Compared with the past few years, this year’s respondents show higher awareness ofautonomous driving. They know about the technology’s advanced features, expresssatisfaction with its performance, and expect to see higher-level automation. As smarttechnologies become more widespread, the trend of “technological democratization”—which is making vehicles with advanced technical features more affordable—ispushing OEMs to prioritize features and experiences that fit actual user scenarios asa key differentiator. However, broader adoption in China will require OEMs to educateconsumers to ensure that these features are used safely and effectively given currenttechnological limitations. Competitionshifts from priceto innovation Key insights: —A considerable proportion of consumers expressed a desire to trade up when buying anew car to replace their existing cars. —The effect of automakers’ price wars on boosting sales is quite limited, far from matchingthe massive investment required to wage such price competition. —In comparison, consumers are embracing the “technology war,” indicating that innovation-driven consumption is gradually becoming mainstream. The changing budget decisions of Chinese consumers when buying new cars have always beenan important topic for the industry. Our survey shows that most consumers, when purchasingtheir next cars, tend to stay in the same price range of their current cars. Still, some 20 to 30percent of consumers say they want to trade up for their next car purchase (Exhibit 1). We also find that owners of cars in certain price ranges are more likely to move to a lower budgetrange (than the current car) for their next car purchase compared with 2023 (Exhibit 2). McKinsey & Company —Few car owners who paid between 100,000 an