China sees 9.66 million motor vehicles newly registered in first quarter

China saw about 9.66 million newly registered motor vehicles during the first quarter of 2021, a record high for the same period in any year, the Ministry of Public Security said on Tuesday.

This brought the total number of motor vehicles in China to 378 million by the end of March, including 287 million cars, data released by the ministry showed.

Of the recently registered motor vehicles, 7.5 million were cars, it said, adding that the country saw the registration of 466,000 new-energy cars in the first quarter, representing more than 6 percent of the total car registration and bringing the overall number of new-energy cars to 5.51 million as of March.

Altogether 8.39 million people got their driver’s licenses in the first quarter, increasing almost 180 percent from the same period last year. The number of licensed motor-vehicle drivers reached 463 million, of which 425 million were car drivers.

Seventy-two Chinese cities had over 1 million cars by the end of March, five more cities compared to the same period last year. Among the cities, Beijing has more than 6 million cars and Shanghai has over 4 million, according to the ministry.

It added that under regular epidemic control measures, traffic management departments throughout the country have continued to handle business online, with more than 21.8 million applications involving motor vehicles and driver’s licenses handled online in the first quarter.