China’s new light-vehicle market contracted for the seventh month in November amid lingering semiconductor shortages and other supply-chain disruptions.
Sales of sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses dropped 4.7 percent to 2.19 million last month from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.
Overall November sales beat CAAM’s expectations, CAAM spokesperson Chen Shihua said, pointing to the impact of falling raw materials prices and an easing of power shortages that had halted output at many factories in prior months.
He said the semiconductor shortage, however, would continue to pressure the auto industry in December, although auto demand would be steady as the economy improves.
Through November, new light-vehicle sales rose 7.1 percent to 19.06 million on the back of a strong first-quarter rebound.
A sharp contraction in the new commercial-vehicle market continued after China raised emissions standards on heavy-duty trucks to State 6 rules on July 1, matching Euro 6 standards.
In November, deliveries of new commercial vehicles including trucks and buses tumbled 30 percent to around 330,000, with year-to-date volume decreasing 5.3 percent to 4.43 million.
Sales of all new vehicles industrywide slipped 9.1 percent to 2.52 million last month.
The overall new-vehicle market has now grown 4.5 percent to approach 23.5 million behind a 77 percent rebound in the first quarter.
In stark contrast to the slumping new-vehicle market, sales of electrified vehicles in China kept forging ahead, spiking 121 percent to some 450,000 in November.
Deliveries of full electric vehicles jumped 110 percent to around 361,000 while shipments of plug-in hybrids surged 170 percent to roughly 89,000.
“Consumer acceptance of new energy vehicles continues to rise,” Chen said. “The market has shifted from policy-motivated to demand-driven.”
Tesla Inc. sold 52,859 China-made vehicles in November, including 21,127 for export, the China Passenger Car Association said on Wednesday.
Chinese EV maker Nio Inc. sold a record 10,878 cars last month and Xpeng Inc. delivered 15,613 vehicles. Volkswagen Group said it sold more than 14,000 ID series EVs in China in November.
Through November, electrified vehicle sales industrywide expanded 170 percent to some 2.99 million.
The tally reflects sales of 2.47 million EVs and around 522,000 plug-in hybrids, representing a jump of 170 percent and 14 percent from a year earlier, respectively.
Reuters contributed to this report.