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Elaine Chan

China’s vehicles sales fell for the eighth straight month in February, a further decline that could dampen Beijing’s plan to bank on the industry to bolster consumption to stabilise the country’s slowing growth.
Sales for all vehicle fell 13.8 per cent in February compared with the same period in 2018, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said on Monday.
The world’s second-largest economy and biggest car market sold 1.48 million vehicles in February, with CAAM suggesting that the drop was due in part to the Lunar New Year holiday.
Sales of cars dropped 17.4 per cent to 1.22 million from the same month in 2018 having fell 17.7 per cent in January to 2.02 million units, the lowest January sales since 2012.


Last year, car sales in China dropped for the first time since 1992.
The February decline represented a sharp drop in sales for major Chinese car manufacturers including Geely and SAIC Motor, which operates joint ventures with Volkswagen and General Motors, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed.
SAIC Volkswagen, with a 9.8 per cent share of the Chinese market, sold 114,711 cars in February, down 6,884 units or 5.7 per cent from a year earlier, while Geely’s sales plunged 28.3 per cent to 78,696 cars.
Total vehicle sales for the first two months of the year fell nearly 15 per cent to 3.85 million units.
Bucking the downward trend was a surge in sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs), a segment Beijing has been pushing with grants and subsidies to fight pollution but also to lift the industry up the manufacturing value chain in a cutting-edge segment.

Sales and output of NEVs in February surged 53.6 per cent and 50.9 per cent, respectively, against the same month last year. Sales and output soared 98.9 per cent and 83.5 per cent in the first two months of the year.
Beijing has embarked on a drive to shore up the industry under a broader strategy to boost domestic consumption as the economy grows at its slowest pace in nearly three decades.
China’s top state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, unveiled in December a range of stimulus measures including allowing local governments to subsidise rural truck and NEVs purchases, while restrictions were also loosened on the second-hand vehicles market.


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The world’s biggest car market sold 1.48 million vehicles in February, a 13.8 per cent drop, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers
Sales of new energy vehicles surged 53.6 per cent with grants and subsidies aimed at fighting pollution and lifting industry up the manufacturing value chain


The world’s biggest car market sold 1.48 million vehicles in February, a 13.8 per cent drop, while sales of passenger cars dropped 17.4 per cent to 1.22 million.


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