China’s automobile sales in November tumbled by almost 8% from a year before, as an expected buying rush before government incentives expired failed to appear, putting the world’s largest vehicle market on track to end the year on a low note.
The industry sold 2.33 million vehicles in November, 7.9% fewer than in the same month of 2021, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on Friday.
November was the first month since May to show an annual fall. The result compared with a 6.9% rise seen in October.
Sales of new-energy vehicles, which include purely electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, were 72.3% higher in November than a year before.
Total auto sales in the first 11 months were 3.3% higher than in the same period last year, CAAM data showed.
In July, CAAM lowered its growth projection for 2022 to 3% from 5.4% previously.
Industry body officials have been expecting buyers to rush to vehicle salesrooms before government subsidies and a purchase-tax cut expire at the end of the year.
But the effect of such incentives had already waned in previous months. Automakers and investors are bracing for a downturn in the market as the economy sags and the country’s zero-COVID policy suppresses demand.
Many of China’s pandemic restrictions were still in place last month. One of their effects has been to disrupt production.
Beijing started easing the measures this week after public frustrations boiled over into protests at the end of November.
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