China’s PV sales in Jan. hit lowest level since 2013

China's vehicle outputs and sales in January 2019 shrank 12.05% and 15.76% year on year (YoY) respectively to 2,365,200 units and 2,367,300 units, according to sales data released by China Association of Automobile Manufactures (CAAM).

Last month, the country's PV outputs slid 14.39% from a year ago, while CV outputs edged up 3.18%. It's worth mentioning that the latest PV sales number hit the lowest level in terms of Jan. sales since 2013. Meanwhile, a total of 346,200 CVs were sold nationwide with a slight YoY decline of 2.18%.

Compared with the performance a month earlier, both PV and CV sectors faced negative drop in Jan. outputs and sales.

Aside from the minibus, the other three major PV segments, namely, the car, the SUV and the MPV, all suffered double-digit YoY decline in monthly. outputs. Nevertheless, as to Jan. sales, none of segment dodged two-digit YoY drop, which directly led to a decrease up to 17.71% for entire PV sales.

China's automobile market was struck by a negative growth for the first time since 1990. By the end of January, 2019, the country has been facing YoY decrease for seven consecutive months. Gasgoo Auto Research Institute predicts that China PV sales for the first half of 2019 will still see YoY drop sitting between 5% and 10%.