Shanghai (ZXZC)- In March, automakers in China sold a total of 1,021,584 locally-produced PVs (referring to cars, MPVs, SUVs and minibuses), facing a year-on-year slump of 48.3%, while gaining a remarkable month-on-month growth of 353.2%, according to the China passenger Car Association (CPCA).

For the first quarter of 2020, the country's PV wholesales still plunged 45.5% over a year ago because dealers were still in want of capital and vexed by dismal retail sales. Although the coronavirus pandemic has been under control in China, it takes some time to lift consumers’ demand, which is the main force that promotes dealerships to purchase vehicles from automakers. On the other hand, dealers wound down car buying from OEMs as they were working on decreasing inventories.

Compared to February, FAW-Volkswagen and Geely Auto maintained the first two places in terms of PV wholesales volume in March. SAIC-GM, which failed to enter the top 10 list in the previous month, rose to the eighth place.

Domestic retail sales of PVs slid 40% from a year ago in March, while skyrocketed 320.5% from the previous month, a positive sign of rigid demand recovery from the coronavirus outbreak.

During the first quarter, 3,067,316 consumers in China took delivery of locally-produced PVs, a year-on-year decline of 40.8%. Except the coronavirus, the Spring Festival holiday also curbed the sales growth to some extent.

Most of dealerships have resumed works as of March as the viral spread has mitigated in China. Nevertheless, the revival of after-sale service generally outpaced that of the terminal deliveries, which were mainly buoyed by online orders, said the association.

Another factor impeding the delivery increase is that the escalating virus severity taking place overseas has put China under the pressure of preventing and controlling imported cases, somewhat suppressing consumers' confidence. People are more prone to stay at home on non-working days and do online shopping rather than in brick-and-mortar stores.

Among the top 10 automakers by domestic PV retail sales in March, FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM-Wuling were the occupants of the first three places. According to the CPCA, the delivery demands for March were mainly from those who bought vehicles as household necessities and replaced old cars with more upscale products.

The retail sales performance is also associated with dealers' inventory volumes. Some brands lost orders due to the shortage of stocks resulting from the retard in production and logistics.

The frequent roll-out of governmental incentives can also be part of explanation to the dwindling demands as consumers adopted wait-and-see attitude towards the market.