China car sales declined 8.2% in 2019

SHANGHAI, Jan 13 (SMM) – China’s automobile sales dropped 8.2% in 2019 to 25.77 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said on Monday.

Passenger vehicles accounted for 21.44 million units, shrinking 9.6% year on year.

In 2018, automobile sales in China declined 2.8%, marking the first contraction since the 1990s.

CAAM data also revealed that sales of new energy vehicles in China slipped for the first time since the government began to vigorously promote clean energy vehicles about a decade ago, due to macroeconomic pressure and a significant cut in subsidies.

NEV sales shrank 4% in 2019 to 1.21 million units.

The industry ministry said over the weekend that China will not make significant cuts to subsidies for NEVs this year, which reassured carmakers.