China's Auto sales continue to shrink in October

China's auto sales fell for the fourth straight month in October, an industry group reported yesterday.

Total vehicle sales shrank 11.7 percent from a year earlier to 2.38 million last month in the world’s biggest auto market, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

In the first 10 months of the year, overall auto sales declined 0.1 percent to 22.87 million vehicles, compared with the same period of last year, posting the first year-on-year negative growth this year, CAAM said.

In October, auto sales decreased significantly, continuing the downward trend since July. 

"China's auto sales may show negative growth this year. This is a short-term fluctuation. However we think that Chinese auto market is still the most promising and dynamic market in the world," said Peter Mao, partner of Ernst & Young China Advisory Limited.

Sales of passenger cars, including sedans and sport-utility vehicles, dropped 13.0 percent to 2.04 million units in October. Sales of commercial vehicles declined 2.8 percent to 333,000 units.

Despite a weak performance in the overall automobile market, sales of new-energy vehicles maintained fast growth in China last month as the government promotes the development of green cars.

In October, sales of new-energy vehicles soared 51 percent to 138,000 units, while production jumped 58.1 percent to 146,000 units, according to CAAM.

In the first 10 months of this year, new-energy vehicle sales surged 75.6 percent year on year to 860,000 vehicles. The production of new-energy vehicles surged 70 percent year on year to around 879,000 units in the January-October period.