FILE PHOTO: New cars are seen at a parking lot in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China, January 16, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer
BEIJING - Automobile sales in China fell 9.6% in June from the same month a year earlier, the country’s biggest auto industry association said on Wednesday, marking the 12th consecutive monthly decline in the world’s largest vehicle market.That followed declines of 16.4% in May and 14.6% in April, as well as the first annual contraction last year since the 1990s amid slowing economic growth and a crippling trade war with the United States.
As provinces implemented the so-called “China 6” vehicle emission standards earlier than the central government’s 2020 deadline, it stoked uncertainty among manufacturers and confusion among consumers, according to CAAM, analysts, dealers and consumers. However, sales of new energy vehicles continued to grow, with an 80% uptick in June to 152,000 vehicles, bringing NEV sales in the first half to 617,000, an increase of almost 50% from a year earlier.
NEVs include plug-in hybrids, battery-only electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. China, blighted by air pollution, has been a keen supporter of NEVs, requiring automakers to meet production quotas.Reporting by Yilei Sun and Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Himani Sarkar