China's locally-made PV retail sales jump 20.1% YoY in July 2022

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In July 2022, China's passenger vehicle ("PV") retail sales amounted to 1.843 million units, jumping 20.1% compared to the previous year, while sliding 6.3% from the previous month, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

For the first seven months of 2022, there were around 11.244 million PVs retailed across the world's largest auto market, reflecting a 3.8% year-on-year dip, versus the 7.4% decrease in the Jan.-Jun. sales.

For clarity, the PVs hereby refer to the cars, MPV, SUVs, and minibuses locally produced on the Chinese mainland.

The sales rise of the Chinese auto market was attributable to the continued improvement in logistics and supply chains, the tenacious export performance, the fast resumption of operation and production in the automotive industry, as well as a slew of stimulus policies occurring since April this year, said the association.

Footfalls and turnovers at dealerships in many regions have recovered to a normal level. The vehicle production capacity and car shopping demands, which were curbed by the epidemic resurgence in April and May, have been markedly unleashed in June and July. Moreover, mainstream automakers in China stepped up sales promotion last month to compensate for the coronavirus-led sales loss and fulfill their annual sales targets.

There were around 220,000 luxury PVs retailed across China in July, representing a 14% year-on-year growth, while showing a 28% month-on-month decline.

Chinese indigenous PV brands recorded a combined retail sales volume of 850,000 units in July, achieving a 34% and 4% increase compared to the previous year and the previous month, respectively.

According to the CPCA, China's local brands accounted for 47.4% of the country's total PV retail volume in July, 4.8 percentage points higher than the prior-year level.

With about 740,000 PVs delivered in July, mainstream joint-venture brands in China attained a year-on-year growth of 10%, but faced a month-on-month drop of 9%.

Among the top 10 automakers by July PV retail sales, the first five companies all scored an increase from a year ago. BYD not only outsold others, but also posted the largest sales increase. SAIC Motor's two subsidiaries—SAIC-GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling (“SGMW”)—were the only two facing a downward movement.In July, automakers in China produced 2.158 million PVs in total, indicating a 41.6% spike from a year ago, while reflecting a slight decrease of 2.2% year-on-year.

For the first seven months of the year, China's PV output added up to 12.386 million units, rising 11.8% from a year earlier.

China's monthly PV wholesale volume amounted to 2.165 million units in July, surging 40% year on year, while notching down 2.2% month on month.

Regarding the PV wholesale volume in July, the list of the top 10 automakers was evenly divided by joint-venture brands and Chinese indigenous ones. BYD was still the fastest-growing one with only NEVs sold. Notably, the top 10 automakers all achieved a rising impetus compared to the same span in 2021.

The CPCA forecasted that both PV production and sales volumes in China would grow year on year at a pretty high rate in August 2022, thanks to such factors as two more workdays compared to July, efficient epidemic control efforts, smooth unleashing of production capacity, as well as the low base for the year-ago period when the industry was vexed by chip shortage.