China’s automotive sales down 33% in February

Chinese automobile sales and production volumes declined by a third in February due to the Chinese New Year holiday.

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Sales, which totalled 1.35 million units, were down 33.42% month-on-month, or 13.56% lower year-on-year, according to a statement from the China Assn of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on Monday March 11.

Production fell 31.42% month-on-month, or 16.25% year-on-year, to 1.35 million units.

But CAAM said China’s automotive industry during the first two months of the year remained good despite the holiday.

Sales and production for the first two month rose 14.1% and 14.7%, respectively, to 3.31 million and 3.39 million units.

The improvement is mainly due to a strong showing in the passenger car segment.

Sales of passenger cars rose 19.5% to 2.84 million units year-on-year for the first two months of the year, while those of commercial vehicles slid 5% to 551,700 units over the same period.