China vehicles sales falls for eighth straight month in February, damping hopes of economic upturn

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

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Sales of passenger cars dropped 17.4 per cent to 1.22 million from February 2018 having fell 17.7 per cent in January to 2.02 million units, the lowest January sales since 2012. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:42pm, 11 Mar 2019Updated: 10:26pm, 11 Mar 2019

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.