China's auto sector shows gradual recovery from pandemic

As the novel coronavirus has been further contained in China, some automobile companies started to see improved sales growth in April.

This, auto analysts believe, is an important signal that indicates auto companies are gradually recovering from the pandemic.

On Wednesday, Geely announced that its total sales in April were 105,468 units, a 44 percent increase month-on-month and 2 percent growth year-on-year. Meanwhile, its upscale Lynk & Co brand has seen a rise of 12 percent on a yearly basis.

FAW Hongqi's April sales reached as high as 14,500 units, a 168 percent year-on-year increase and a 69 percent increase from the previous month. The official data showed the three SAIC-GM brands Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac reached 111,155 vehicles (including exports) in April, with domestic retail sales up 13.6 percent from a year ago.

The motoring sector has been hit hard. In the first quarter, China's automobile production and sales fell by more than 40 percent yearly.

Nevertheless, favourable government policies have been put in place to help companies return to work when the virus gradually gets controlled. In Shanghai, the government issued favourable policies such as increasing its license plate quota and subsidizing the charging costs of new energy vehicles.

An Conghui, president of Geely Holding Group, said," As government introduces measures to stabilize and expand auto consumption, the good trend in the long term for the sector will not change…with the launch of new models and the delivery of larger orders delayed by the epidemic, we are confident in the market performance in May and the second quarter. "