On June 12, 2017, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) announced vehicle production and sales results for May 2017. Production totaled approximately 2.087 million units, a 2.4% decrease on a month-over-month (m/m) basis and a 0.7% increase on a year-over-year (y/y) basis. Sales were approximately 2.096 million units, up 0.6% m/m and down 0.1% y/y.
Year-to-date (YTD) production from January through May reached 11.358 million units, a 4.5% increase y/y, while sales reached 11.182 million units, a 3.7% rise y/y.
Passenger car production in May was approximately 1.748 million units, an 2.0% decrease m/m and a 1.8% fall y/y. Passenger car sales were approximately 1.751 million units, up 1.7% m/m and down 2.6% y/y. Sales of small vehicles with 1.6-liter or smaller engines declined 9.2% y/y to approximately 1.154 million units, which accounted for 65.9% of all passenger vehicles sold in the month.
Commercial vehicle production in May was approximately 339,000 units, a 4.6% decrease m/m and a 15.6% increase y/y. Commercial vehicle sales were approximately 345,000 units, down 4.7% m/m and up 15.2% y/y.
As for new energy vehicles, production in May reached 51,000 units, a 38.2% increase y/y, and sales totaled 45,000 units, a 28.4% gain y/y. By vehicle type of new energy vehicles, electric vehicle (EV) production reached 44,000 units, up 52.5% y/y, and EV sales totaled 39,000 units, up 49.0% y/y. Production of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) totaled 8,000 units for a y/y decrease of 9.3%, and PHEV sales totaled 7,000 units for a y/y decline of 28.3%.
Vehicle exports in May reached approximately 70,000 units, a m/m increase of 3.9% and a significant y/y increase of 25.6%. YTD exports totaled approximately 316,000 units (up 28.2% y/y), with passenger vehicles reaching 219,000 units (up 39.5% y/y) and commercial vehicles reaching 97,000 units (up 8.4% y/y).
(CAAM press release from June 12, 2017)