CAAM: China car sales tumbled nearly 80% YoY in February

SHANGHAI, Mar 12 (SMM) – Sales of automobiles in China dropped 83.9% from January to 310,000 units in February to produce a year-over-year decline of 79.1%, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said on Thursday.

Passenger vehicles accounted for 224,000 units, down 86.1% month on month and 81.7% year on year.

In the first two months of 2020, China’s automobile sales amounted to 2.24 million units, down 42% from the same period last year.

Data from CAAM also revealed that sales of new energy vehicles in China dropped 75.2% year on year to 12,908 units in February.

Sales of NEVs in January to February totalled 59,705 units, down 59.5% year on year.

Dismal data suggested that China’s car market took a heavy hit in February from the coronavirus. Car sales data for early March from another auto industry body, however, indicating that the market is recovering, offered some relief.

The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on Wednesday reported a 51% year-over-year decline in daily average retail sales of PVs in China in the first week of March (March 1-8), smaller than a decline of 63% in the last week of February (February 24-29).

For the full month of February, retail sales of sedans, multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in China dropped 78.5% from a year earlier to 252,308 units, according to CPCA data released on Monday.