On May 11, 2017, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) announced vehicle production and sales results for April 2017. Production totaled approximately 2.138 million units, a 17.9% decrease on a month-over-month (m/m) basis and a 1.9% decline on a year-over-year (y/y) basis. Sales were approximately 2.084 million units, down 18.1% m/m and down 2.2% y/y. Production and sales fell significantly from the previous month and declined slightly from April 2016 due to slower demand from end consumers.
Year-to-date (YTD) production from January through April reached 9.271 million units, a 5.4% increase y/y, while sales reached 9.086 million units, a 4.6% rise y/y.
Passenger car production in April was approximately 1.783 million units, an 18.5% decrease m/m and a 3.3% fall y/y. Passenger car sales were approximately 1.722 million units, down 17.8% m/m and down 3.7% y/y. Sales of small vehicles with 1.6-liter or smaller engines declined 10.2% y/y to approximately 1.137 million units, which accounted for 66% of all passenger vehicles sold in the month.
Commercial vehicle production in April was approximately 356,000 units, a 14.5% decrease m/m and a 5.9% increase y/y. Commercial vehicle sales were approximately 362,000 units, down 19% m/m and up 5.3% y/y.
As for new energy vehicles, production in April reached 37,306 units, a 19% increase y/y, and sales totaled 34,361 units, a 7.9% gain y/y. By vehicle type, electric vehicle (EV) production reached 30,197 units, up 26.1% y/y, and EV sales totaled 28,570 units, up 19.4% y/y. Production of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) totaled 7,108 units for a y/y decrease of 3.9%, and PHV sales totaled 5,791 units for a y/y decline of 26.8%.
Vehicle exports in April reached approximately 68,000 units, a m/m decrease of 3.6% and a significant y/y increase of 26.3%. YTD exports totaled approximately 245,000 units (up 29% y/y), with passenger vehicles reaching 173,000 units (up 43.3% y/y) and commercial vehicles reaching 72,000 units (up 4.1% y/y).
(CAAM press release from May 11, 2017)