CAAM: China’s Apr auto sales down, NEV still firm
Source: Mysteel
May 14, 2019 12:30
Last month’s result meant that for January-April, total output of vehicles reached 8.4 million units, representing a decline of 11% on year, CAAM said, with the pace of the decline increasing by 1.2 percentage points from that during January-March. In parallel, sales over the first four months were lower by 12.1% on year at 8.35 million units.
The declines in motor vehicle output and sales for April were in marked contrast to March where production and sales soared, with output rising by a huge 81.5% from February and sales by 70.1%. But that month, the rebound was only due to the fact that most automakers stepped up operations before the end of the first quarter in order to obtain a good quarterly performance, CAAM said.
CAAM attributed last month’s poor results to the lack of consumer confidence. “Currently, vehicle consumers remain cautious about procuring, given the change-over from national emission standard V to emission standard VI, as well as expectations regarding the government’s preferential policies to boost consumption,” CAAM stated in the report.
“In most regions of China, especially well-developed cities, national emission standard VI will come into effect from July 1 (but) producers are holding large volumes of vehicles that only meet emission standard V. The stocks of unsalable vehicles are exerting pressure on these enterprises’ finances and further impacting production of new-standard vehicles,” a market source in Shanghai said.
Also in April, production of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) increased by 25% on year to 102,000 units whilst sales increased 18.1% on year to 97,000 units, CAAM’s data showed. Over the first four months, the production and sales of NEVs surged by 58.5% and 59.8% on year to 368,000 units and 360,000 units respectively.
“Although the overall auto industry is in downturn, the NEV category still recorded high-speed growth. And among the vehicle producers, NEV enterprises like BYD Auto Co are enjoying a buoyant harvest time after a long period of technical development,” the market source added.
Meanwhile, also in April vehicle exports declined by 7.8% on month or 11.8% on year to 83,000 units. The April result took total exports over January-April to 314,000 units, down 1.6% on year.
Written by Anna Wu, wub@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
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