Shanghai (ZXZC)- Last month, automakers in China sold a total of 219,930 locally-produced PVs (referring to cars, MPVs, SUVs and minibuses), which were 82.1% less than that of a year ago, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Although carmakers and dealers tried to shift the sale places to online platforms, it seems that the effort bore little fruit. As consumers' shopping demands were largely suppressed by the coronavirus outbreak, homegrown PV retail sales in Feb. slumped 78.6% year over year to 256,608 units.

The epidemic also rubbed salt into the wound of NEV field. In February, the wholesales of China-made new energy PVs (NEPVs) tumbled 70% to 15,323 units, of which the volume of PHEVs nosedived 84% to around 1,897 units, and the BEV sales tumbled 65% from a year ago to 13,426 units.

Dealers were saddled with a record high inventory pressure. The national VIA (Vehicle Inventory Alert Index) stood at 81.2% in February, a month-on-month jump of 29.5 percentage points and a year-on-year leap of 27.7 percentage points, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA).

Among the top 10 China-built PV model by Feb. wholesales, there were six cars and four SUVs. Considering the drastic impact led by the coronavirus, the list is just a list with little value of reference.

Cars

According to the CPCA, the China-built car wholesales amounted to 93,205 units in Feb., plummeting 84.1% year over year. The YTD volume slid 47.6% to 831,652 units.

Except the Model 3, the other nine models on the top 10 list all faced decrease compared to the year-ago period.

The Sylphy was honored the best-selling car, while the number stood at only 6,519 units. The Bora took the runner-up place, moving up two places over the previous month.

The Model 3 must be the conspicuous one. Tesla kicked off in early Jan. the scale delivery of its made-in-China Model 3, which cracked the top 3 landscape before long. Nonetheless, the EV manufacturer was recently urged by China’s MIIT to keep its China-built models consistent with the order says, after some customers complained the company put less advanced computer chips in their cars.

The other notable change is that two premium car models—the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the Audi A6—entered the top 10 list, ranked sixth and eighth respectively.

SUVs

In February, the locally-produced SUV wholesales plunged 79.4% from the prior-year period to 111,013 units, making the Jan.-Feb. volume total 894,112 units (-37.5%).

There were six entrants listed on the top 10 SUV model compared to Jan., namely, the Mercedes-Benz GLC, the Tiggo 5x, the Jetta X70, the Jetta VS5 and the Qashqai.

（Photo source: Changan Automobile)

The Changan CS75 surpassed the Haval H6 to No. 1 place, and it is also the only one whose Feb. sales topped 4,000 units. The GLC mid-sized premium SUV leapt to the runner-up place, demonstrating an outstanding popularity.

Chery had three models included on the top 10 list—the Tiggo 5x (3rd), the Jetta X70 (7th) and the Tiggo 3 (9th).