China's Car Sales Slide Again in March
Zhang Yushuo
DATE:  Apr 10 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China's Car Sales Slide Again in March China's Car Sales Slide Again in March

(Yicai Global) April 10 -- Sales of automobiles in China continued to flag last month as they fell 12 percent on overall weak demand.

Production of passenger vehicles in March fell 7.3 percent annually and 80 percent monthly to a little over 2 million units, the China Passenger Car Association said in a statement yesterday. 

Sales of cars were down 12.1 percent annually to 1.7 million, a reduction of over half compared with February. However, this was the best result in recent times and reflected the influence of the Spring Festival holiday period, the association said. 

Among the major car types, multipurpose vehicles exhibited the biggest decline with sales falling over one-fifth annually to 130,000. Those of sports utility vehicles decreased 10.7 percent to 753,000 units. 

Luxury car sales grew 7.5 percent in March though models from mainstream joint venture brands dropped 12.3 percent and those of independents fell 15.7 percent. The Japanese and German brands showed strong growth, said Cui Dongshu, general secretary of CPCA, adding that independent brands still face great pressure due to mediocre low-end consumption.

NEVs Rise Again

China sold twice the amount of new energy vehicles in March compared with one year ago at 111,000 units due to the positive effects of the prolonged sectoral subsidies. Traditional gas-fueled car sales fell 15 percent while the country's cumulative NEV wholesales grew 117.9 percent to 254,000 for the first quarter.

SAIC Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC-GM remain the most popular brands in terms of sales, posting 1.6 million, 1.5 million and 1.2 million, respectively. However, these figures were all down annually with SAIC-GM notably sliding nearly one-quarter. Among the top ten, only Dongfeng Nissan, Great Wall Motor, Guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Honda posted gains. 

The truck market will develop better as the financial environment improves, the CPCA said. China's trade dispute with the US is being mitigated and the outlook for infrastructure investment is getting better. 

Recent tax and social security charge cuts will also help the car market to recover. The adjustment of value-added tax to 13 percent from 16 percent will also generate positive effects on the manufacturing industry, which will encourage sidelined buyers to return and promote high-end sales, the body added. 

The market still faces growth uncertainties stemming from the country's falling marriage rate and the China 6 emissions standard, soon to be implemented in Shandong province and other areas. 

Editor: William Clegg

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Keywords:   Cars,Automobiles,NEVs