New car sales in China plunged by 48% in April, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), writes Leatherbiz

Geely Motor Group

A little under 1.2 million units sold in April, down from 2.25 million in the same month last year. Strict lockdowns in key cities nationwide as part of the zero-covid policy have had a major impact on automotive sector sales.

With its 25 million inhabitants, Shanghai, has been under lockdown orders since early April and other cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou are being closely monitored.

Automakers have been directly affected by the lockdowns and have also struggled with severe disruption to supply chains and logistics, while sales activity was also halted in the affected areas. Total vehicle production fell by 46% in April.

In the first four months of the year, total vehicle sales decreased by 12% to 7.7 million units from 8.75 million a year earlier. In the same period passenger car sales fell by 4.2% but commercial vehicle sales were hit badly and declined by 40%.

One sector of the auto industry that did better statistically were sales of new energy (NE) vehicles, which includes electric and hybrid. These grew by 45% to almost 300,000 units in April, although the growth rate has slowed. All the same, the increase in sales of NE vehicles was 112% from January to April with more than 1.5 million units.