With a month to go, China’s vehicle sales are on track to hit 25.3 million units this year as sales of electric vehicles in particular rise sharply.
While official production, retail sales, and investment figures are due out tomorrow, a senior official at China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), said in Beijing on Friday that the group expects Chinese sales this year of 20.2 million passenger vehicles and 5.1 million commercial vehicles, which include trucks and buses.
The 2020 figure will be just under 2019’s 25.77 million units, that’s a big recovery from the COVID-driven slump in the first few months of 2020.
At the end of June vehicles sales were down 12.6% on a year earlier because of the COVID-driven falls in February through May. 10.62 million units were sold, down from 12.32 million for the first six months of 2019. Car sales fell 22.4% but truck and associated vehicles saw an 8.6% rise.
CAAM’s forecast for next year’s overall sales is 26.3 million vehicles, 4% above this year’s expected figure, thanks to supportive government policies and carmakers’ discounts.
Xu said China expects to sell 1.8 million new energy vehicles (NEV) next year, 38% above the 1.3 million this year and 1.2 million last year.
(NEVs include battery-powered electric, plug-in petrol-electric hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles).
The forecast confirms the recovery in vehicle sales across China in the second half of the year thanks to the discounting by carmakers and support from government.
The rebound in car sales helps explain the high levels of crude steel output and the rise in iron ore prices.
