Wholesale and retail sales of new vehicles contracted sharply in the first two weeks of April with production, shipping and deliveries severely disrupted by spiking coronavirus cases and other supply-chain bottlenecks, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.
During the two-week period, daily shipments of passenger vehicles including sedans, crossovers, SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles industrywide plunged 44 percent to roughly 24,000, the trade group said this week.
Daily retail sales of passenger vehicles across the country slipped 39 percent to around 25,000, it added.
Severe lockdown measures aimed at curbing major COVID outbreaks, requiring employees to stay home and isolate, have forced many automotive plants and dealerships to go dark.
Volkswagen Group, Toyota Motor Corp. and China FAW Group Corp. last week resumed output at key plants in the northeast city of Changchun.
Tesla Inc. and SAIC Motor Corp. have scrambled to restart production with one shift at Shanghai assembly plants even though the city is still in lockdown.
As various pandemic control measures continue to affect inter-province vehicle shipment and auto parts supply, passenger vehicle production and sales in China will remain severely constrained into May, the trade group warned.