Vehicle sales in China to grow 7% in 2021, industry association says

China will see sales recovery in its auto market continue well into 2021, said the country's passenger car association, with an estimated retail sales growth of around 7 percent from 2020.

Statistics from the China Passenger Car Association show that passenger vehicle sales have continued the recovery since the first post-pandemic monthly growth happened in May.

Despite the recovery, retail sales in the first 10 months reached only 14.92 million vehicles in China, down 1.69 million from the same period last year and representing a 10.2 percent year-on-year fall.

The association said total retail sales this year will fall around 7 percent from 2019.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the association, said the low base number will help sales growth in 2021.

Other causes he cited for the optimistic projection included a later-than-usual Spring Festival holiday, the rise in sales of premium vehicles and efforts from international brands' Chinese joint ventures to introduce new NEV models for 2021.

Premium vehicles and NEVs have thus far shown to be resistant to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cui said the premium segment has seen sales grow about 30 percent year-on-year since May.

NEV sales rebounding came later but had more drastic results. In October, NEV sales exceeded 140,000, more than double the figure for the same month in 2019.

The association expects sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids to total more than 1.15 million this year, which would be higher than in 2019.

The segment is expected to see further growth as brands including Volkswagen launch their first electric models in early 2021.

Favorable policies from the central and local authorities will continue to drive the vehicle market.

Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that the campaign to promote NEV sales in China's rural areas saw over 100,000 purchases of new energy vehicles in just four months.

On Friday, officials from both the MIIT and the Ministry of Commerce said they would work on further measures to stimulate car sales, including more rural campaigning and encouraging local authorities to loosen restrictions on license plate quotas. The quotas limit car sales in many of the country's metropolises, including Beijing and Shanghai.