Fall in vehicle sales in China during March due to COVID-19 – GlobalData

Following the news that China vehicle sales fell by 11.7 per cent in March after two months of increase, Bakar Sadik Agwan, Senior Automotive Consulting Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view: “In contrast to a positive jump of 18.7 per cent in February, vehicle sales in China fell by 11.7 per cent to 2.2 million units in March 2022, following the production and supply disruptions caused by the new wave of the COVID-19 which led to strict lockdowns across regions in the country.

“Commercial vehicles witnessed an overall decline of 43.5 per cent. Passenger vehicles, on the other hand, declined by 0.6 per cent as SUVs and compact cars managed to maintain volumes. GlobalData’s March edition to LV Sales Forecast also maintained a conservative growth in March (1 per cent Y-o-Y) compared to double-digit Y-o-Y growth in February. The sales results are in line with GlobalData’s expectations.

“The ongoing COVID-19 led disruptions, chips supply constraints and macroeconomic downside risks due to ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine portrays a gloomy picture of vehicles sales in the country. Several automakers including Tesla, Nio, VW and Toyota have announced temporary halt of production starting mid-March. The production cut announced by OEMs due to supply disruptions are expected to continue to impact domestic deliveries in April. GlobalData forecasts April LV sales to grow 2 per cent year-on-year in 2022.”