China's Next Big Thing? Used Cars.
A secondhand market could be a boon for investors — and the environment.
Second life needed.
Photographer: VCG/Getty Images
China's huge bet on new-energy vehicles has understandably gotten the world's attention. But a less flashy phenomenon now underway may be at least as consequential for the environment in the near term: China is finally getting into used cars.
A familiar ritual in most countries, buying vehicles secondhand had until recently been all but unknown in China. In most markets, sales of used cars outpace those of new ones by a wide margin, usually two-to-one or more. About 39 million used cars were sold in the U.S. last year, for instance, compared to 17 million new ones. In China, the opposite prevailed: 29 million new cars sold, and just 12 million used ones.