Sales of new cars in China have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, the China Passenger Car Association has confirmed.
Car sales fell by 40.8 per cent from March 2019 to 1.08 million units but the association expects sales volume in April to be much higher than in March.
While March hurt, it was not as bad as February when car sales in China plunged by 79 per cent from the year prior, as the nation was in the midst of its fight with COVID-19, South China Morning Post reports. Parts of the country started to emerge from lockdown in March, hence the slight rebound in sales.
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While the market as a whole felt the pinch, Tesla actually enjoyed a rather successful March in China, reporting wholesale shipments of 10,160 units, more than double the numbers recorded in February. This figure broadly reflects the number of cars leaving Tesla’s Shanghai factory and it is unclear precisely how many were sold to customers, Bloomberg notes.
Tesla is still a relatively new player in the world of electric car manufacturers building vehicles in China but is already making its presence felt. According to secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, Cui Dongshu, the nation’s total wholesale deliveries of electric cars were roughly 47,000 in March.
Registration figures confirming the exact number of Tesla models sold in China throughout March will be released later this month. In February, the U.S. automaker registered 2,314 vehicles in China, a 35 per cent decline from January.
