China’s carmakers and sellers suffered their worst ever quarter in three months to the end of March, as the coronavirus pandemic closed factories and dealerships for several weeks, and wiped out consumer demand.
Sales for the quarter fell a record 42% on year to 3.7 million vehicles, according to the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Car sales (SUVs, sedans, and minivans) in the first three months of 2020 were down 45.4% at 2.9 million.
While demand started to return in March as China’s epidemic situation stabilised, sales for that month were still down 43.3% on a year ago. But that was much better than the 79% plunge in February.
March was the 21st monthly fall in vehicle sales in China with a total of 1.43 million units sold last month. China’s March car sales (SUVs, sedans, and minivans) fell 40.8% from a year earlier to 1.08 million units.
The number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold fell for the ninth straight month to 53,000 units. The number does not include Tesla’s sales which totalled 10,160 vehicles in March. Tesla sold 3,900 units in February and 2,620 units in January.
