According to the national manufacturer association CAAM: minus 42% in January
The Chinese car market also saw a significant kink in February because of the New Year celebrations in the country. The minus compared to the previous month amounts to 42 percent on 1.45 million vehicles sold, as the manufacturers association CAAM (China Association of Automobile Manufacturers) announced on Friday in Beijing on the basis of preliminary figures.
In a year-on-year comparison, the world's largest car market, which is also by far the most important individual market for the German groups Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW, recovered significantly. A year ago, according to CAAM data, only 310,000 vehicles were sold to dealers – the outbreak of the corona pandemic caused the market to collapse almost completely.
The recovery of the market then picked up speed significantly from mid-2020. Since then, the sales figures have been clearly positive again compared to the previous year, with the growth in January being particularly strong. But that was also due to the fact that the New Year festival 2020 fell at the end of January.
The manufacturers association CAAM measures the sales of the car manufacturers to the dealers and not to the end customers. In contrast, the industry association PCA (China Passenger Car Association) measures sales by dealers to end customers and includes cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles. PCA had already announced February sales of 1.19 million vehicles in the middle of the week, without giving comparative values and further details.
