China's auto sales down 11.1% in February

China's auto market drove into an off-season in February as sentiment was dampened due to fewer customers during the Chinese New Year holiday, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.

Total sales of vehicles fell 11.1 percent from a year earlier to 1.7 million units, according to data released by the association today.

It was sharp a contrast with the performance in January, when China's car sales rose 11.6 percent year-on-year to 2.8 million units.

"Sales figure in February showed a flat market demand, which is due to fewer consumers tend to buy cars during the Chinese New Year holiday," said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association. 

Cui added that "there were fewer working days in February this year compared with last year. Some of car manufacturers produce fewer vehicles last month and set lower sales targets."

Passenger car sales fell 9.6 percent to 1.47 million units last month, with those of commercial vehicles dropping 19.2 percent to 242,000 units, according to data from the association.

But a bright spot was the sales of new-energy vehicles. Sales of new-energy vehicles jumped 95.2 percent to about 34,420 units in February. Among the sales of new-energy vehicles, sales of electric vehicles added 68.4 percent to 23,458 units while sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles soared 196.4 percent to 10,962 units.