Shanghai (ZXZC)- China's vehicle inventory alert index (VIA), which reflects the inventory pressure on automobile dealers, rose 9.9 percentage points year on year in Nov. 2022, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA).

The VIA stood at 65.3% last month, rising 6.3 percentage points from the previous month.

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

The auto market sales performance was lower than the expected due to the epidemic factor, said the CADA. The association predicted that China’s automobile retail sales would be around 1.7 million units in Nov. 2022.

In November, the VIAs of imported & luxury brands, mainstream joint-venture brands, and Chinese indigenous brands reached 67.2%, 72.9%, and 61.8%, rising 10.4, 13.2, and 1.6 percentage points over the previous month, respectively, according to CADA's data.

The association also said the auto market demands are expected to be intensively unleashed in December as the automobile purchase tax cut and NEV subsidies are set to expire at the end of this year.