China’s automobile retail sales in first-half 2021 reach 2.2 trillion yuan

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- For the first half of 2021, China's retail sales of automobile reached roughly 2.2 trillion yuan ($339.695 billion), leaping 30.4% from the previous year and representing contribution of 13% to the growth in the retail sales of consumer goods, Zhu Xiaoliang, director of the Department of Market System Development of China's Ministry of Commerce, said on July 22 at a press conference. 

Partly thanks to the roll-out of many supporting policies, China's auto market is posting stable performance with good momentum for growth, said Mr. Zhu. According to the data he enumerated, China's new vehicle sales amounted to 12.9 million units in the Jan.-Jun. period, jumping 25.6% over a year ago, while also growing 4.4% compared to the same period in 2019. Notably, the semi-annual NEV sales rocketed over 200% year on year to 1.2 million units, which approached the full-year volume for the year of 2019. Besides, there were over 8.4 million used cars sold and around 1.305 million scrapped motor vehicles recycled during the first six months, representing 52.9% and 41.3% year-over-year growth respectively.

Mr. Zhu noted China's annual auto sales are expected to register year-over-year growth in 2021, ending three consecutive years of decrease. The continued recovery in domestic economy and the ongoing implementation of governmental stimulus will provide power support for the auto market development in the second half of this year. Nevertheless, the market will be somewhat affected by the chip shortage and the rise in raw material prices.