China News Service, Tianjin, November 6 (Xue Chunyue) Undercarriage, China Automobile Dealers Association, and China Automobile Information Technology jointly released the "2026 China Automobile Consumer Service Industry White Paper" on the 6th. The white paper clarifies the industry boundary of the "automobile consumer service industry" for the first time, estimating the market size in 2025 to be approximately 7.2 trillion yuan, and is expected to exceed 10 trillion yuan in 2030. It also points out that digital platforms and AI are becoming key variables for full-link upgrades.
The white paper states that the automobile consumer service industry connects automobile manufacturing and household consumption. Huang Yonghe, former senior chief expert and deputy director of the General Engineer Office of China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd., said: "The automobile consumer service industry spans the production and daily service industries. It is a strategic comprehensive industry that expands domestic demand, stabilizes employment, and improves residents' quality of life." Among sectors such as new car sales support, second-hand car transactions, car maintenance and accessories and supplies, new car sales support services are about 1.8 trillion yuan, which is the largest value segment in the current industry chain.
New car sales and operations continue to migrate online, and there is a clear trend of online consumer decision-making. Data from the Dianchedi platform shows that a single user will browse an average of 6.2 car models in 2025, an increase of 63% from 2020; the average stay time will be extended from 12 minutes to 28 minutes. The white paper survey shows that the online penetration rates of determining brand models, comparing prices, and checking word-of-mouth reviews are 52%, 71%, and 58% respectively.
Second-hand car transactions are transitioning from "information asymmetry" to "trust transactions". The white paper points out that the national second-hand car transaction volume in 2025 will be 20.108 million units, with a transaction value of approximately 1.29 trillion yuan. By December 2025, the transfer rate will rise to 34.9%, and cross-regional circulation barriers will be accelerated. However, the testing and evaluation standards are not unified, which still restricts pricing and purchase.
The growth in the number of new energy vehicles has driven changes in the focus of aftermarket services. Three-electric system maintenance, battery special maintenance, and charging operations have become the core growth sectors of vehicle services. The white paper survey shows that the proportion of new energy users who have received remote diagnosis, OTA upgrades, and software services exceeds 60%; more than 80% of users are interested in playing cars, and 46% of users have related consumer expenditures of more than 5,000 yuan.
The white paper believes that platform companies play the role of "industry organizer" in the upgrading of the entire chain of automobile consumer services, and that AI for automobile consumer services is being upgraded from an efficiency tool to an infrastructure for industrial change.
Song Yingjie, Assistant President of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said that the scale and branding advantages of leading companies have become increasingly prominent. This is not only the result of the self-evolution of the market, but also cannot be separated from the continued promotion of information transparency and transaction standardization by leading platforms.
The white paper states that automobile consumption services have great value potential and strong driving effects. They also have a feedback effect on automobile manufacturing and are ushering in historic development opportunities.
