The new-vehicle market grew at a slower pace of 0.5 percent in May after robust gains in the first four months, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturer’s estimates.
Last month, only 2.2 million vehicles were sold across the country, according to a preliminary tally the industry trade group released Thursday.
Demand for new light vehicles including sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses rose 6 percent.
But deliveries of new commercial vehicles including trucks and buses dropped 8.8 percent.
Because of robust sales in the first four months, especially a strong rebound in the first quarter, new-vehicle sales through May still surged 38 percent.
During the five-month period, deliveries of new light vehicles spiked 40 percent while sales of new commercial vehicles jumped 32 percent.
CAAM didn’t disclose further details of its estimates and is expected to release final tallies for vehicle sales and production in May later this month.
The industry’s top trade group last week predicted the new-vehicle market this year is likely to grow at a faster rate than its forecast of 6.5 percent.
With sales through April beating expectations and a microchip shortfall expected to ease in the second half, CAAM is looking to “somewhat” revise up the forecast in its mid-2021 report, Xu Haidong, the trade group’s deputy chief engineer, said at a news briefing Friday in Beijing.
China’s new-vehicle deliveries rose 8.6 percent to around 2.25 million in April from a year earlier.
Behind a strong rebound in the first quarter, compared with the coronavirus-battered year-earlier period, industry sales surged 52 percent to approach 8.75 million in the first four months.
The year-to-date volume — which is also 4.5 percent higher than the same period in 2019, the year before the coronavirus outbreak — exceeded CAAM’s forecast, Xu said.
With chip makers gearing up to ensure adequate supplies for automakers, “the optimistic scenario is that the shortage of automotive chips will start to ease in the second half and return to normal in mid-2022,” he added.
CAAM previously predicted new-vehicle sales in China would reach 26.96 million in 2021, up from 25.31 million in 2020.