China sales increase 22.4% y/y to 1.94 million vehicles in February

On March 10, 2017, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) announced vehicle production and sales results for February 2017.
Vehicle production in China totaled 2.16 million, a 33.8% increase on a year-over-year (y/y) basis, while sales reached 1.939 million, a 22.4% rise y/y. Year-to-date (YTD) production that includes January result was 4.529 million, up 11.1% y/y, while YTD sales reached 4.459 million, up 8.8% y/y.
Passenger car production was 1.847 million units, which marked a month-over-month (m/m) decrease of 10.8% and a y/y increase of 31.5%. Sales were 1.633 million, down 26.4% from January and up 18.3% y/y. Sales of small vehicles with 1.6 L or smaller engines increased 17.5% y/y to 1.157 million units, which accounted for 70.9% of all passenger vehicles sold.
In the commercial vehicle market, production totaled approximately 312,000 units, up 5.0% m/m and up 49% y/y. Sales reached approximately 307,000 vehicles, up 1.7% m/m and up 49.9% y/y. These increases were attributable to the booming truck market.
Production of new energy vehicles totaled 17,972 units, a 15.5% increase y/y, and sales of these vehicles totaled 17,596 units, a 30.3% rise y/y. By vehicle type, electric vehicle (EV) production was 15,327 units for a y/y rise of 32.3%, and EV sales totaled 13,919 units for y/y growth of 49.5%. Plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV) production was 2,645 units for a y/y decrease of 33.5%, and PHV sales totaled 3,677 units for a y/y decline of 12.4%.
Vehicle exports in February totaled approximately 50,000 units, a 14.1% decrease from January. Monthly exports maintained y/y growth for a gain of 42.8%. YTD exports reached 108,000 units, up 36.3% y/y. By vehicle type, approximately 78,000 passenger vehicles were exported, which was an increase of 55.2% y/y, and approximately 30,000 commercial vehicles were exported, a rise of 3.4% y/y.
(CAAM press release from March 10, 2017)