China's vehicle sales in 2018 drop 2.76% YoY to 28,080,600 units, CAAM

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China's vehicle outputs and sales in 2018 dropped 4.16% and 2.76% year on year (YoY) respectively to 27,809,200 units and 28,080,600 units, according to sales data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

Both outputs and sales of PVs faced negative growth on an annual basis, which directly led to the downturn for entire automotive market despite the growth of CV performances.

In December, there were 2,482,200 vehicles output and 2,661,500 vehicles sold in China with respective YoY decline of 18.39% and 13.03%. Double-digit YoY decrease appeared on both monthly PV outputs and sales. In the meantime, the CV outputs only edged down 0.98% over a year ago, yet its sales climbed 5.24% from the previous year. 

The PV declining performances are reflected on outputs and sales for all detail sectors. In December, the sales look not that depressed compared with the previous month—only the car sales showed a YoY drop of 4.4%. However, compared with the same period a year ago, the sales of the car, SUV and MPV sectors all displayed double-digit decrease.

As to the full-year performances, the sales of cars and SUVs slightly shrank 2.7% and 2.52% over the year-ago period, while their sales reduction basically determine the results of overall PV sales due to the absolute majority in quantity. Meanwhile, the MPV and minibus failed to dodge the sliding performances as well.