Gasgoo.com (Shanghai March 17) - February was a strong sales month for new energy vehicles in the Chinese automobile market, with new energy vehicle sales growing from the previous year.
According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, a total of 1.59 million automobiles were sold in China in February. The figure represents negative growth of 31.3 percent, far worse than industry expectations. A total of 3.91 million automobiles have been sold in the country over the first two months of the year, representing very minor year-on-year growth of 4.3 percent.
The majority of automobile sales growth this year has been coming from the SUV and minivan segments. While, the overall passenger automobile segment experienced year-on-year sales growth in February reached 6.4 percent, the SUV and minivan segments reported growth of 46.2 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively. On the other hand, commercial vehicle sales fell 19.5 percent over the first two months of the year.
A total of 6,045 new energy automobiles were sold in during the course of the month, three times the amount sold the previous February, continuing on the past year’s growing trend. Monthly sales of pure electric vehicles quadrupled to 2,890 units, while those of plug-in hybrids more than doubled to 3,155 units.
Sales of domestic own brand vehicles totaled 605,200 units, up 19.7 percent from the previous year. The passenger automobile market share held by own brands grew 4.8 percent. While the amount market share held by domestic-made sedans fell, own brands were assisted by stronger SUV and minivan performances.
A total of 113,100 Chinese automobiles were exported over the first two months of the year, up 8.5 percent from the previous year. Over half of that amount, 65,400 units, were of passenger automobiles, down 15.5 percent from the previous year. By comparison, commercial vehicle exports grew 2.9 percent from the previous year, with a total of 47,700 units exported.
