The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) has said that, if the coronavirus can be controlled by April and vehicle producers’ production lines are able to resume production, then in 2020 the total wholesale sales of passenger vehicles (including cars, sport utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles, but excluding mini-vans) will decrease by 2.7 million units, while retail sales will decline by 2.0 million units. However, if the coronavirus lasts longer, for instance until June or the second half of the year, especially if imported cases cannot be controlled effectively, China’s GDP growth is unlikely to maintain its previously expected pace and will only rise by around 5.0 percent, which will negatively affect people’s incomes and the smooth running of the supply chain in the vehicle industry. Accordingly, the CPCA forecasts that the wholesale and retail sales of vehicles in this scenario in 2020 would likely face double digit negative growth.
In 2019, wholesale passenger vehicle sales in China amounted to 21.1 million units, down 9.3 percent year on year. If in 2020 the sales figure declines by 2.7 million units, this would mean a 13.2 percent drop from 2019.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, retail sales in China of passenger vehicles (including cars, sport utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles, but excluding mini-vans) amounted to 252,000 units in February of this year, down 78.5 percent year on year, decreasing by 85.3 percent month on month, while the retail sales figure totaled 1.968 million units in the January-February period of the year, down 41.0 percent year on year, according to the data issued on March 9.