China PV sales to grow 10% this year: CAAM

Beijing (Gasgoo)- China’s new vehicle sales are expected to rise 6.5% this year when compared with 2020, higher than the 4% increase forecast made in January, Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), said at the 11th China Auto Forum organized by the association.

Xu Haidong; photo credit: 2021 China Auto Forum

This year, sales of passenger vehicles in the largest auto market across the world will see a growth rate of about 10% from a year ago while annual commercial vehicle sales may drop 8%, rather than a decrease of 10% predicted before, according to Mr. Xu. New energy vehicle sales will surpass 2 million units with an expected gain of 46%.

Shi Jianhua, deputy general secretary of the CAAM, said several days earlier that the association expects the annual sales of this year may reach 27 million units, but also warned that automotive chip shortage and increasing material cost may affect vehicle sales.

China’s auto market will see a low-speed and stable growth during the 14th five-year period, and the annual sales by 2025 may amount to 30 million vehicles, Mr. Xu said. According to the 2021-2035 New Energy Vehicle Industry Planning issued last November, new energy vehicle sales are expected to account for 20% of the total vehicle sales. If so, the annual sales of new energy vehicles will be 6 million units.  

Last month, vehicle sales in China declined 3.1% from a year ago to 2.128 million units, the first fall since April of last year, according to the CAAM. But compared with the same month of 2019, auto sales in May went up 11.1%. For the first five months of this year, auto sales in China jumped 36.6% year on year to 10.875 million vehicles.