China sales increase 5.3% y/y to 2.19 million units in August

On September 11, 2017, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) announced vehicle production and sales results for August 2017. Both production and sales were up on an m/m and y/y basis, with the good conditions expected to continue. Due to many companies giving employees leave for the hot weather conditions, sales exceeded production by roughly 100,000 units, slightly reducing pressure on inventories.  
Production and sales over the period from January to August has maintained a growth rate of between 4 and 5%. Passenger vehicle segment growth continued at a rate of 2-3%, and commercial vehicle segment growth held a healthy 15-17% growth rate.
Production for August increased by 1.6% m/m, and 4.8% y/y to 2.093 million units, while sales rose by 10.9% m/m and 5.3% y/y to 2.186 million units.
Total rates for the period Jan-Aug showed production up y/y by 4.7% to 17.678 million units, while sales improved y/y by 4.3% to 17.511 million units.
Passenger vehicle production for August rose by 1.8% m/m, and 3.6% y/y to 1.79 million units. Sales grew by 11.7% m/m and 4.1% y/y to 1.875 million units. Sales of passenger vehicles with engines of 1.6 liters or less fell 0.5% y/y to 1.268 million units, and their share of the total passenger vehicle market declined by 3.2 % points y/y to 67.6%.
Commercial vehicle production in August increased by 0.8% m/m and 13.2% y/y to 303,000 units. Commercial vehicle sales rose 6.2% m/m and 12.8% y/y to 311,000 units.
Production of new energy vehicles (NEVs) for August shot up by 67.3% y/y to 72,000 units, while NEV sales also rose dramatically by 76.3% y/y to 68,000 units. Among NEVs, EV production sharply increased by 79.6% y/y to 58,000 units, and sales nearly doubled after posting an increase of 95.5% y/y to 56,000 units. Production of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) also increased by 29.4% y/y to 14,000 units, while sales showed a similar rise of 21.6% y/y to 12,000 units.
Exports continued their healthy trend for August and showed an increase of 6.7% m/m and 17.0% y/y to 74,000 units. Total exports for the Jan-Aug period went up 24.6% from the same period last year to 539,000 units. Breaking down by segment, passenger vehicle exports improved by 34.2% y/y to 373,000 units, while commercial vehicle exports slightly increased by 7.3% to 166,000 units.
(CAAM press release from September 11, 2017)