• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Car Sales in China Drop as COVID Lockdowns Kept Buyers at Home

Car Sales in China Drop as COVID Lockdowns Kept Buyers at Home

AN AERIAL PHOTO OF A LARGE CAR LOT

Photo: Bloomberg

December 9, 2022
Bloomberg

Retail sales of passenger cars in China slipped in November as lockdowns due to the country’s still-strict approach to COVID kept buyers away from showrooms.

Sales totaled 1.67 million units in November, down 9.5% from the same period of 2021 and a 10.5% drop from October, data from China’s Passenger Car Association released December 8 showed.
Sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs), which include pure battery electric cars and hybrids, rose 58.2% year-on-year to 598,000 units, led by local giant BYD Co. and U.S. pioneer Tesla Inc. NEV deliveries to car dealerships may now touch 8.4 million in 2023 in what is the world’s biggest automobile market, PCA said.

“We’re still optimistic about NEV sales in 2023, with an increase of at least 30%,” Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the PCA, said. Deliveries this year should total around 6.5 million, he added.

BYD, backed by Warren Buffett, shipped 230,427 units in the month while Tesla delivered a record 100,291 EVs. Some 62,493 of the locally built Model 3 sedans and Model Y sports utility vehicles were sold to the domestic market, leaving 37,798 for export, according to PCA.

China’s automotive industry, like most others, has been hampered by the country’s COVID Zero approach, which officials only recently started stepping away from. For much of the past almost three years, authorities have been locking down swathes of the country, forcing people into COVID quarantine camps and subjecting large portions of the population to mass testing.

That’s disrupted economic growth and dented consumer confidence. Companies including Volkswagen AG and Honda Motor Co. have been forced to suspend production as employees were stuck at home and components couldn’t reach the factories. Supply chain snarls have also hit almost every firm.

Guangzhou-based Xpeng Inc., for example, only delivered 5,811 vehicles in November and 5,101 units in October. Another Chinese EV maker Li Auto Inc. said publicly that two of its models had been delayed due to a lack of “essential components.”

“COVID outbreaks and lockdowns in major automotive consumption regions, including Guangdong, Chongqing and Henan, have hit both the supply and consumer ends, leading to an abnormal consecutive month-over-month decline in this fall and winter,” Cui said.

Car sales are however expected to pick up in December ahead of state subsidies for cleaner vehicles and tax cuts for low-emission gasoline cars falling away. NEV deliveries to car dealerships for the first 11 months of the year were 5.74 million.

Wholesales of gasoline automobiles in 2023 are expected to drop by 10% to 15.1 million units, PCA said.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Global Supply Chain Management Global Trade & Economics Automotive
  • Related Articles

    Rate of New Car Sales to Dip in Much of China as Aftermarket Products, Services Rise

    More Than Half U.S. Firms in China See Lockdowns Hitting Revenue

    Sluggish Car Sales Slow Down Chipmakers as Trade Woes Escalate

Bloomberg

India Says Its Path to Net Zero Must Pass Through Fossil Fuels

More from this author

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • DOCUMENTS BEARING THE INSIGNIA OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LIE ON A TABLE

    New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • A WORKER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPERIMPOSED WITH GRAPHICS SHOWING SUPPLY NETWORK

    Enabling Intelligent Visibility With Supply Chain Analytics

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A GROUP OF WORKERS RANGED IN AN OFFICE, OF DIVERSE RACE, GENDER, AGE AND PHYSICAL ABILITY

    Podcast | The Supply Chain Workforce of the Future Is Already Here

    HR & Labor Management
  • A YELLOW AND BLACK TRAFFIC SIGN THAT READS "VOLATILITY AHEAD"

    Four Strategies for Addressing Supply Chain Disruption

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing