China Car Sales Drop 2.5% in April

China’s total vehicle sales fell 2.1% year-on-year to 2.6299 million units in May 2026, following a 2.5% decline in the previous month, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). New energy vehicle (NEV) sales rose 14.4% year-on-year to 1.496 million units in May, accelerating from 9.7% growth in April, with NEVs accounting for 56.9% of total vehicle sales. Meanwhile, domestic sales plunged 20.4% year-on-year in May. In contrast, vehicle exports surged 68.7%, serving as a key driver of the sector, which has increasingly relied on overseas shipments to offset weakness in the domestic market. "Stabilizing domestic demand this year should be regarded as a very important task for the automotive industry," said Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the CAAM, as Reuters reported. Last year, China’s vehicle sales increased 9.4% year-on-year to a record high of 34.4 million units, up from a 4.5% increase in 2024, while NEV sales surged 28.2%.

China’s total vehicle sales fell 2.5% year-on-year to 2.526 million units in April 2026, following a 0.6% decline in the previous month, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Meanwhile, new energy vehicle (NEV) sales rose 9.7% year-on-year in April to 1.344 million units, accelerating from a 1.2% gain in March, with exports surging 110% to a record high. In contrast, domestic NEV sales fell 10.8% YoY. For the first four months of the year, total car sales declined 4.8% year-on-year, sharply reversing a 10.8% increase in the same period in 2025, while NEV sales edged up 0.1% over the period. On a monthly basis, car sales dropped 12.9%. Last year, China’s vehicle sales climbed 9.4% year-on-year to a record high of 34.4 million units, accelerating sharply from 4.5% in the previous year, with NEV sales soaring 28.2%.

China’s total vehicle sales fell 0.6% year-on-year to 2.899 million units in March 2026, after a downwardly revised 15.2% plunge in the previous month, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). February sales slumped as volumes were affected by significantly fewer working days due to the Lunar New Year holidays falling in February this year rather than January last year. Of that total, overall vehicle exports surged 72.7% yoy to 875 thousand units. Meanwhile, new energy vehicle (NEV) sales rose 1.2% yoy in March, accounting for 43.2% of new car sales. For the first quarter of the year, car sales dropped 5.6% yoy, sharply reversing an 11.2% jump in the same period in 2025, with NEV sales declining 3.7% in Q1 2026. However, car sales surged 60.6% from a month earlier. In 2025, China’s vehicle sales grew 9.4% year-on-year to a record high of 34.4 million units, accelerating from 4.5% in the previous year, with NEV sales surging 28.2%.