BEIJING :China's auto sales slumped 19.6per cent in September from a year earlier, industry data showed on Tuesday, falling for a fifth consecutive month as a prolonged global shortage of semiconductors disrupts production.
One bright spot in the data was the strong sales of new energy vehicles, which more than doubled in September to 357,000, thanks to the government's promotion of greener vehicles to cut pollution. These include battery-powered electric vehicles, plug-in petrol-electric hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
Chinese EV makers Nio Inc and Xpeng Inc delivered over 10,000 vehicles each last month. Volkswagen AG said it sold 10,126 ID. series EVs in China in September.