On April 11, 2017, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) announced vehicle production and sales results for March 2017. Production and sales showed double-digit increases on a month-over-month (m/m) basis. They maintained growth on a year-over-year (y/y) basis, but at a lower rate than that of February. Year-to-date (YTD) production and sales for January-March showed strong growth thanks especially to significant increases in the commercial vehicle market.
Overall vehicle production in March totaled 2.604 million units, up 3% y/y, while sales reached 2.543 million units, up 4% y/y. YTD production through March totaled 7.133 million units, up 8% y/y, while YTD sales totaled 7.002 million units, up 7% y/y.
Passenger car production in March was 2.188 million units, an 18.4% rise m/m and a 1.8% increase y/y. Passenger car sales were 2.096 million units, a 28.4% rise m/m and a 1.7% gain y/y. Sales of small vehicles with 1.6-liter or smaller engines declined 0.1% y/y to 1.451 million units, which accounted for 69.2% of all passenger vehicles sold.
In the commercial vehicle market, production totaled approximately 416,000 units, up 33.3% m/m and up 10.2% y/y. Sales reached 447,000 units, up 45.7% m/m and up 16.2% y/y.
As for new energy vehicles, production reached 33,015 units, a 30.9% increase y/y, and sales totaled 31,120 units, a 35.6% gain y/y. By vehicle type, electric vehicle (EV) production reached 26,685 units, up 41.8% y/y, and EV sales totaled 25,342 units up 43.3% y/y. Plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV) production totaled 6,330 units for a y/y decrease of 1.1%, and PHV sales totaled 5,778 units for a y/y rise of 9.6%.
Vehicle exports in March reached approximately 70,000 units, a 40.2% increase m/m and a 23.8% rise y/y. YTD exports totaled 179,000 units (up 31.1% y/y), which included 128,000 passenger vehicles (up 46.6% y/y) and 51,000 commercial vehicles (up 3.6% y/y).
(CAAM press release from April 11, 2017)