(Yicai) March 8 -- Car sales sank 21 percent in China last month from a year earlier, as buyers held off over the lunar new year holiday amid escalating price competition and in expectation of new auto industry policies coming out in various localities this month.

Retail sales of passenger vehicles came in at 1.1 million units in February, down 46 percent on the prior month, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed today.

Some 388,000 new energy vehicles were sold, an 11.6 percent year-on-year drop and down 42 percent on January, while NEV production fell by an annual 17.7 percent and a monthly 42 percent to 426,000.

This March has only 21 working days, two less than the same month last year, but industries have gone back to work quickly after the holiday, the CPCA noted. Auto production and sales will likely increase at a faster pace this month, it added. 

NEV exports stood at 79,000 units last month, up 0.1 percent from a year ago but down 20 percent from January. 

In the two months ended Feb. 29, car sales rose 17 percent to 3.1 million from a year earlier, the association’s figures showed.

Editor: Martin Kadiev