Automobile sales down by 79% in February
Auto sales in China dropped 79 percent to 310,000 units in February from a year earlier, the 20th consecutive monthly decline, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on Thursday.
The latest drop follows decreases of 18 percent in January and 0.1 percent in December in the world’s largest auto market. CAAM said the downward trend was due to macro-economic environment as well as weak demand amid the coronavirus disease outbreak. In total, 2.23 million vehicles were sold in the first two months of this year, a decline of 42 percent year on year.
“China’s auto sales for February returned to levels not seen since 2005,” said Chen Shihua, CAAM’s assistant secretary general. “The auto sales figure is mainly affected by COVID-19, which has little to do with real consumer demand."
The association had predicted earlier that Chinese auto sales were likely to fall 5 percent in 2020, marking a third consecutive year of contraction. Last year, sales dropped 8.2 percent to 25.77 million vehicles.
In February, sales of passenger cars accounted for about 74 percent of total vehicle sales. China sold 224,000 passenger cars in the first two months, down 81.7 percent year on year.
Commercial vehicles took up the remaining 26 percent of total vehicle sales, with 86,000 units sold last month.
In January, sales of new-energy vehicles declined by 75.2 percent to 12,908 vehicles, a contraction for the eighth month in a row.
Last month, electric vehicles declined 72.6 percent year-on-year to 10,680 units. Sales of plug-in hybrids dropped 82.9 percent to 2,228 vehicles.
CAAM said consumer demand was depressed due to the outbreak and sales would be affected in the first half of this year. The country has issued a series of policies to promote sales of automobiles and related products to further stabilize the economy.
China’s biggest automaker SAIC Motor said its vehicle sales dropped 86.9 percent to 47,365 units last month.
China's largest privately-owned carmaker Geely said it sold 21,168 cars in February, down 75 percent compared with a year earlier.
Shenzhen-based electric carmaker BYD sold 5,501 cars last month, 79.5 percent lower year on year.