China’s passenger car sales remained strong in September, boosted by strong demand for clean vehicles and despite a sluggish economic environment, a trade federation announced on Tuesday.
A total of 1.92 million units were sold in September, up 21.5% year on year, the China Federation of Individual Automobile Manufacturers (CPCA) said.
BYD ahead of Tesla in electricity
For its part, sales of hybrid and electric vehicles almost doubled in one year in the world’s leading automotive market (+94.9%). In this niche, the Chinese BYD vastly outperformed Tesla in terms of sales, with 200,973 units compared to 83,135 for the US brand, according to the CPCA.
As for luxury car purchases, they shot up 45% in one year in September, according to this federation.
Car sales in China had experienced a strong contraction in May (-17% in one year) but especially in April (-40.4%), the largest since 2020.
Support to the sector in a context of economic slowdown
To support the sector amid an economic slowdown and sluggish consumption in the country, the government issued a series of measures in July to boost sales.
The sector is benefiting from this, in particular from the extension of the tax relief for the purchase of electric vehicles, which was due to end this year.
As of August, sales of so-called clean energy vehicles had already doubled in a year in China. The electric car market is particularly competitive in the country.
There are plenty of builders there and they are racing to take advantage of this exit, which has been boosted in recent months by generous purchase subsidies from municipalities or local governments.
These measures are supposed to support the economy, at a time when anti-Covid restrictions weigh heavily on the activity of the Asian giant.
China is due to release its growth figures for the third quarter later this month, as well as various economic indicators. In the second quarter, China’s GDP growth reached just +0.4%, its worst performance since 2020.
Source: BFM TV
