Compared to the NEV market, China's overall auto market performed worse in April, with sales down 47.1 percent from March.

China's auto sales plunged in April due to Covid, but new energy vehicles (NEVs) remained more resilient.

The country's NEV sales in April were 299,000 units, up 44.6 percent year-on-year and down 38.3 percent from March, data released today by the China Association of Automobile Makers (CAAM) show.

New energy passenger vehicle sales in April were 280,000 units, up 45 percent year-on-year. Among them, pure electric vehicle sales were 212,000 units, up 34.2 percent year-on-year, and plug-in hybrid sales were 68,000 units, up 94.1 percent year-on-year.

It's worth noting that the CAAM doesn't specify, but as long as the cars produced by the car companies are sold to dealers, they can be counted as sales, so the figure is wholesale volume.

China's NEV production in April was 312,000 units, up 43.9 percent year-on-year and down 33 percent from March. In the January-April period, China's NEV production was 1.605 million units, up 113.7 percent year-on-year.

Exports of NEVs in April were 11,000 units, down 53.7 percent year-on-year and 33.1 percent from March.

The overall Chinese auto market performed worse in April compared to the NEV market.

Sales of all vehicles in China were 1.181 million units in April, down 47.6 percent year-on-year and 47.1 percent from March, the data showed.

Of these, passenger car sales were 965,000 units, down 43.4 percent year-on-year and 48.2 percent less than in March.

Since April, the auto chain has experienced its toughest challenge ever with the Covid outbreak in several regions, the CAAM said.

Some automakers have shut down production and logistics and transportation have been hindered in a major way, leading to a sharp decline in supply capacity, the CAAM said, adding that consumer confidence and spending power have also dropped significantly because of the Covid impact.

April's auto production and sales were both around 1.2 million units, a new monthly low for the same period in the last 10 years, the CAAM said.

Notably, NEVs, while also affected by the Covid outbreak, remained above year-ago levels, the CAAM noted.