The sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China will have a consistent rebound in March from a month ago, CnEVPost reports citing CPCA’s forecast. However, general passenger car sales are still weak.
CPCA’s March forecast
The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) projects that passenger vehicle retail sales in the country will reach 1.59 million units in March. That figure represents a 14.5% increase from a month ago.
NEVs retail sales will reach 560,000 units, according to the forecast. It marks a sales growth of 25.8% year-on-year and 27.5% MoM. It also demonstrates a 35.2% penetration rate.
China’s auto market rebounds in March
The passenger car market’s overall discount rate was approximately 14.4% in mid-March, which shows the country’s extreme effect of the price war.
Notably, the overall auto market in China was sluggish in the first two months of the year due to adverse factors. It started to recover in March, per the CPCA.
“Wait-and-see” sentiment caused by price cuts
Unfortunately, the overall auto market very slowly recovered because of the customers’ extended “wait-and-see” presumption. The report noted that the automaker’s price cuts caused it.
The CPCA highlighted that the automakers’ enormous discounts in Hubei effectively enticed the customer. However, it prompted customers from other areas to “wait-and-see” for further discounts.
Since then, several local governments have implemented subsidy laws. Automakers got on board with several promotions that increased “store traffic” but decreased diminished final order fulfillment.
That said, CPCA concludes that the wait-and-see sentiment among consumers’ increase has adversely affected the overall auto market.
Average daily retail sales in the first two weeks of March
Major Chinese car brands reported an average daily retail sales of 31,500 units in the first week of March, representing a decline of 16 YoY.
For the second week, they reported sales of 36,700, with an 18% drop YoY, per the report.
Now, the average retail sales per day in the third week of the month are projected to increase 10% YoY to 40,800 units.
Even more, auto sales in China are forecasted to keep on recovering in the fourth to the fifth week of the month, which may primarily be driven by the promotional policies in several Chinese regions and the upward trend of car sales at the end of the quarter.
It is worth noting that the CPCA generally discloses its passenger vehicle sales estimates at the end of the month. Meanwhile, the preliminary data are published early the next month, followed by the final data.
See Also:
- CPCA: China’s retail sales of passenger NEVs increased 32% from January
- CPCA projects NEV sales in China to surge 20% in February from January
- China: NEV sales grew 106% YoY on February 1 to 12
- China: Passenger NEV retail sales declined 48% in January from December
- China: Sales of plug-in vehicles reached almost 6 million in 2022
In February 2022, CPCA released estimated retail sales of about 400,000 units for that month. However, its preliminary data demonstrated 438,000 units on March 7. Finally, the final figure was released on March 8, reaching 439,000 units for February.
