BEIJING: China’s automobile industry posted a sharp rebound in March, with production rising to 2.917 million units and sales reaching 2.899 million units, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Output jumped 74.4% from February and sales increased 60.6% from the previous month. From a year earlier, however, production slipped 3.0% and sales edged down 0.6%, showing that the strong monthly rebound came against a softer annual base for the broader market.
New energy vehicles remained a central driver of the market in March. Production of NEVs totaled 1.231 million units and sales reached 1.252 million units, leaving the segment with a 43.2% share of total new vehicle sales for the month. In the passenger vehicle segment, production climbed to 2.446 million units and sales rose to 2.412 million units, up sharply from February, though both figures were still below the levels recorded in March last year, underscoring the uneven nature of the recovery.
Exports continued to provide one of the strongest points in the data. Total vehicle exports rose to 875,000 units in March, up 30.2% from February and 72.7% from a year earlier. NEV exports reached 371,000 units, up 130% year on year. At the same time, passenger car retail sales in the domestic market remained under pressure, with March retail sales at 1.648 million units, down 15.0% from a year earlier, even as they rebounded 60.0% from February.
Exports Strengthen While Domestic Demand Lags
For the first quarter, China’s automobile output totaled 7.039 million units and sales reached 7.048 million units. That was down 6.9% and 5.6%, respectively, from the same period last year, although the March performance narrowed the decline seen earlier in the year. First-quarter passenger vehicle production came to 5.909 million units and sales stood at 5.934 million units, down 9.3% and 7.6% year on year, indicating that the consumer segment remained weaker than the headline March rebound suggested.
The NEV segment also showed a mixed first-quarter picture. Production reached 2.965 million units and sales totaled 2.960 million units in the January-March period, down 6.8% and 3.7% from a year earlier. Even so, NEVs accounted for 42.0% of total automobile production and sales in the quarter, highlighting the segment’s scale within China’s auto market. Passenger vehicle retail sales for the quarter totaled 4.236 million units, down 17.0% from a year earlier, while NEV retail sales were 1.844 million, down 24.0%.
March Rebound Narrows Earlier First-Quarter Declines
The March data reflected a broad normalization in production and distribution after the Lunar New Year period, when holiday timing weighed on activity in February. The association said market operations improved during March, helping lift output and sales from the previous month’s level. The figures also showed that wholesale strength and export growth continued to outpace conditions in the retail market, where year-on-year declines persisted despite a sequential pickup in showroom traffic and deliveries.
Taken together, the latest figures show a market that recovered strongly on a month-to-month basis in March but was still working through softer domestic demand on a yearly comparison. Exports and new energy vehicles remained the clearest areas of resilience, while first-quarter totals for output, sales and retail purchases stayed below year-earlier levels. March’s performance nevertheless marked a significant rebound from February’s holiday-affected slowdown and helped reduce the scale of the industry’s first-quarter contraction – By Content Syndication Services.