HANGZHOU, China , Nov. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DSC Holdings Ltd. (“DSC” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: DSC), the AI application infrastructure for China’s used car industry, today released its inaugural China Used Car Industry White Paper (First Half of 2026) . Leveraging its flagship DaFengChe system, which holds over 90% market share in China’s used car dealer operating system market, DSC draws on its extensive proprietary operating data and public industry statistics to provide unique insights into the dynamics shaping China’s used car market. The white paper conducted an in-depth examination of used car transaction volumes, vehicle pricing, residual values, dealer operating performance and cross-region circulation, revealing industry trends and observations that public statistics alone do not reveal. The publication underscores DSC’s commitment to advancing industry transparency and data-driven decision-making, while demonstrating the value of its granular industry data and digital infrastructure. "The Chinese used car market does not lack vehicles or demand. What the industry needs to overcome is the inefficiency in the arduous process of moving used cars from the selling consumers, through the large community of dispersed independent dealers, to the buying consumers," said Ms. Qin Zou , director and chief financial officer of DSC. "The key to better used car commerce is shifting as many market participants as possible from traditional experience-based and relationship-driven practices toward data-driven decision-making and AI-enabled operations, whether they are used car dealers or inspectors or transporters." Key Findings from the White Paper 1. Used Car Transactions Near New Car Sales ; Turnover Rate Remains Low Relative to Mature Markets China's used car transaction volume reached 9.71 million vehicles in the first half of 2026, up 1.5% year over year and equivalent to 98% of domestic new car sales, which fell 21.1% to 9.92 million. The jump in the used-to-new ratio, from roughly 0.74 for full-year 2025, therefore reflects weaker new car sales rather than stronger used car demand. China's annualized used car turnover rate, measured as annualized used car transactions as a percentage of the nation's total vehicle population of 371 million, stood at 5.2%, compared with 8.1% in Japan , 8.5% in Europe and 14.7% in the U.S . The white paper notes that long-term used car volume is driven by the size and age of the vehicle fleet and by how soon owners resell their cars: the age at which fuel vehicle owners first replace their cars has declined steadily over the past decade, and NEV owners replace their vehicles much sooner. In the near term, however, intense new car price competition has weighed on used car demand, particularly for near-new vehicles, whose share of transactions fell from 28.2% in the second half of 2023 to 24.9% in the first half of 2026. 2. Price Competition Is Reshaping Residual Values: Brand Premiums Narrow While Vehicle Condition Matters More DSC's used car price index declined from a baseline of 100 in the first half of 2022 to 76.9 in the first half of 2026, a fall of 23.1%, roughly twice the 11.2% decline in DSC's new car price index over the same period, as new car price cuts were amplified in the used car market. Brand premiums have compressed sharply: for vehicles less than three years old, the residual value gap between luxury and domestic brands narrowed from 8.7 to 3.9 percentage points, and the premium of non-luxury joint venture brands over domestic brands shrank from 4.3 to 1.2 percentage points. Vehicle condition has become a more important pricing variable than brand: among three- to five-year-old vehicles, those in excellent condition retain 12 to 13 percentage points more of their value than those in average condition. Residual values of younger NEVs are improving, with the gap between one-year-old NEVs and comparable fuel vehicles narrowing from 5.8 to 2.5 percentage points, although older NEV models still depreciate far more steeply, retaining only 11.6% of their value at eight years versus 27.9% for fuel vehicles. 3. Dealer Margins Are Compressing and Small Dealers Are Being Squeezed Out DSC's dealer gross margin index fell from 100 in January 2026 to 85.6 in June, a steeper decline than the 3.9% drop in retail prices over the same months, as dealers cut prices to accelerate turnover. The share of profitable dealers fell by 10 to 16 percentage points year over year across all size tiers; among dealers selling fewer than 50 vehicles a year, only 28.7% were profitable, down from 40.7% a year earlier. Consolidation is under way: dealers selling fewer than 50 vehicles a year fell from 70.3% of the dealer base in the first half of 2022 to 56.6%, while those selling more than 200 vehicles rose from 4.1% to 10.8%. Dealer performance now hinges less on brand than on smart procurement decisions, both which vehicles to buy and at what price, together with fast turnover and h