- Overall passenger car retail sales for February are expected to be around 1.25 million units, up 13.6 percent year-on-year but down 30.3 percent from January.
- The Chinese New Year holiday in 2024 was on February 10-17, while this year the holiday was on January 28-February 4.
China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sales are expected to continue to fall this month, with the Chinese New Year holiday affecting sales.
In February, retail sales of passenger NEVs in China are expected to be 600,000 units, up 55 percent year-on-year but down 19 percent from January, according to estimates released today by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
China's auto market has a distinct seasonal pattern, with January or February usually being the lowest point in sales for the year, while December is usually the highest point.
The higher year-on-year growth is largely due to the fact that last year's New Year holiday was all in February -- February 10-17 -- while this year the holiday was in late January to early February -- January 28 to February 4.
China's NEV penetration at retail in February is expected to be 48 percent, according to the CPCA. This is up from 41.5 percent in December and up from 35.2 percent a year ago.
The CPCA is expected to release preliminary data on February NEV sales early next month and final figures in the middle of next month.
According to preliminary projections, overall passenger car retail sales for February are expected to be around 1.25 million units, up 13.6 percent year-on-year but down 30.3 percent from the previous month, according to the CPCA.
Effective production and sales time in February this year is 19 working days, higher than last year, providing support for the year-on-year growth, the CPCA said.
Passenger car makers that contribute 80 percent of retail sales targeted over 10 percentage points of year-on-year growth in retail sales for this month, but were down about 30 percent from January's target, the CPCA said.
The major automakers' average daily passenger car retail sales in the first week of February, February 1-9, were 26,500 units, down 30.8 percent year-on-year and down 38.5 percent from the same period last month.
Their average daily retail sales for the second week were 48,900 units, up 91.2 percent year-on-year but 17.4 percent lower than the same period last month.
Average daily retail sales in the third week are expected to be 56,700 units, up 53.5 percent year-on-year, but 22 percent lower than the same week last month.
Average daily retail sales for the fourth week are expected to be 54,300 units, 15.3 percent lower year-on-year and 9.7 percent lower than the same period last month.
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