Passenger car sales post an unexpected decline

Source: Xinhua | 2017-05-22

CHINA’S passenger car sales fell 0.2 percent to 7.09 million units in the first four months of this year, below an earlier estimate of a 2 percent rise, according to the data released by the China Passenger Car Association.

The country’s passenger car sales grew 0.8 percent year on year to 1.66 million units in April, a sharp slowdown from the 2.9 percent gain in March, the association said.

“The growth of the market is far below our expectations,” said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the association.

Sales of sedans and multi-purpose vehicles reversed 3.9 percent and 24.2 percent in April from a year ago to 836,425 and 135,178 units respectively, the association’s data showed.

The China Passenger Car Association said the sport-utility vehicle segment was the only one that grew, with sales surging 15.1 percent from a year ago to 689,387 units.

“Sales increase of the sport-utility vehicles was seen in the mid-sized and large-sized models, mainly driven by the second-child policy,” Cui said.

Sales of new-energy vehicles rose 6 percent from March to 29,222 units in April.