What’s new: China’s auto sales slipped 11.7% in March — the first decline in three months — driven by a drop in gas-powered vehicle sales of 26.8% year-on-year.
Sales in the world’s largest car market totaled 2.23 million units last month, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
Meanwhile Covid continued to roil supply chains and push up input costs.
Production of new cars dipped 9.1% in March from a year earlier to 2.24 million units, according to CAAM, reflecting the impact of moves by carmakers — including Tesla Inc., Nio Inc. and Volkswagen AG — to suspend production in China to meet local virus prevention and control requirements.
However, sales in the new-energy vehicles segment — including electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell cars — grew 115.9% year-on-year in March to 484,000 units, CAAM said.
The background: In January, Xu Haidong, a vice chief engineer at CAAM, said that the association expected China’s auto sales to rise 5% year-on-year in 2022.
In the first quarter of this year, the country’s auto sales totaled 6.51 million units, basically flat from the comparable previous period, CAAM said, attributing the performance to shrinking consumer demand and supply chain disruptions.
Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com) and editor Flynn Murphy (flynnmurphy@caixin.com).
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