China's car sales surge 75% in March, 12th straight month of growth

Time：2022-07-05 14:28:46Source：

BEIJING — China'sauto salesrose for a 12th straight month in March, as the world's largest auto market led the industry's recovery from the pandemic.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed car salesin Marchreached 2.53 million units, up 74.9 percent from a year earlier.

Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) including battery-powered electric vehicles, plug-in gasoline-electric hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles rose 239% to 226,000 units in March.

Homegrown NEV makers such as Nio Inc and Xpeng Inc, as well as foreign groups such as Tesla, are expanding production capacity in China as it promotes green vehicles to reduce air pollution.

Another Chinese auto industry group, the China Passenger Car Association, said on Friday that Tesla sold 35,478 Chinese-made vehicles in March.

Chen Shihua, a senior director at the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said the industry body expects the chip supply shortage to have a greater negative impact on China's auto production in the second quarter than in the first quarter.