Shanghai (ZXZC)- China's vehicle inventory alert index (VIA), which reflects the inventory pressure on automobile dealers, rose 3 percentage points year on year in August 2022, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA).

The VIA stood at 54.7% last month, slightly climbing 0.3 percentage points from the previous month.

The index in August was still above the official warning threshold (50%).

The CADA said China's auto market maintained a blooming performance in August, which was supposed to be a routine off-season for car shopping. The positive recovery in the auto market partially resulted from the car purchase tax reduction policy, subsidies offered by local governments, and the sales promotion co-launched by both automakers and car dealerships.

Nevertheless, there were some factors still curbing the showroom traffic and sales of dealerships, such as the scorching weather, sporadic coronavirus cases, etc.

The association said China's auto retail sales are anticipated to reach roughly 1.86 million units in August, jumping 30% from the year-ago period, when the auto market posted a heavy downturn due to the chip shortage.

In August, the VIAs of imported & luxury brands and Chinese indigenous brands reached 53% and 58.7%, growing 0.3 and 4.7 percentage points over a month ago, respectively, according to CADA's data. Meanwhile, the index for mainstream joint-venture brands dipped 1.5 percentage points month over month to 53.6%.