China's Vehicle Inventory Alert Index VIA) stood at 63.6% in March 2022, rising 8.1 percentage points from the previous year, while also climbing 7.5 percentage points from the previous month, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association CADA).

The index in March 2022 was still above the official warning threshold 50%).

In March, the overall automobile market in China faced stagnant performance as the car production, sales, and consumption were hit by the widespread resurgence of the COVID-19 cases, said the association.

Consumers’ car consumption and daily trips were adversely affected by the intensified measures for pandemic prevention and control, especially the dealer showroom traffic and car deliveries steeply fell in late March and a turnaround is unlikely in the short run. Besides, automobile sales also decreased due to the dismal car shopping demands and the disruption of dealerships’ operations, which were caused by the sweeping growth in new energy vehicle and oil prices, according to the CADA.

In March 2022, the VIAs of the imported & luxury brands, the mainstream joint-venture brands, and the Chinese indigenous brands reached 57.5%, 67.1%, and 61.1%, rising 3.2, 10.9, and 2.2 percentage points over a month ago respectively, according to the CADA.