China homegrown PV retail sales likely surged 66% in March

Retail sales of China's locally-produced PVs (referring to cars, SUVs and MPVs) are forecasted to reach roughly 1.74 million units in March, soaring 66% year on year and leaping 47.5% month on month, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

How the PV market will perform later this month remains to be seen because there are still risks of occurrence of car price rise and consumers' wait-and-see mood in the wake of shortage of car models caused by chip shortages that vex some automakers, said the CPCA.

Compared to the corresponding period in 2019, PV retail sales of main automakers in China fell 3.1% in the first two weeks of March. To be specific, the first-week deliveries amounted to 195,000 units, edging up 2.4%, while the volume for the second week dropped 9.1% to 216,000 units.

The CPCA said the retail sales for the third and fourth weeks are likely to shrink 6.6% and 2.2% compared to March 2019 to 240,000 units and 440,000 units respectively. The sales for the fifth week are expected to plunge 41.9% to 280,000 units as there are two days fewer than that of in March 2019.

With the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), China auto market will be given favorable support this year as the blueprint requires a balance between the long-term and short-term development of macro economy. Although the policy support for auto market is generally weaker than last year, some local incentives will still be sustained. In particular, local governments of some regions in China North, where sporadic coronavirus cases emerged there in early 2021, have granted subsidies for new car purchase and replacement of old cars, said the association.