Shanghai (ZXZC)- China's vehicle inventory alert index (VIA), which reflects the inventory pressure on automobile dealers, rose 3.6 percentage points month on month in Jan. 2023, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA).

The VIA stood at 61.8% last month, climbing 3.5 percentage points from the previous year.

The index in Jan. 2023 was still above the official warning threshold (50%).

There were two holidays, namely, the New Year’s Day and the Chinese Lunar New Year, falling in Jan. 2023, resulting in fewer workdays over the year-ago period, said the CADA, when it described last month’s auto market performance. Besides, the government's withdrawal of the yearslong generous subsidies on new energy vehicles and the 50%-off purchase tax on gasoline cars at the end of Dec. 2022 also overdrew part of car shopping demands from the first month of this year.

According to the feedback from car dealers, the footfall at automobile sales stores during the Spring Festival holiday was better than their expectations. However, consumers were more in a wait-and-see mood instead of buying cars directly as some models posted price increase or discount shrink.

In Jan. 2023, the VIAs of imported & luxury brands and China’s locally-owned brands stood at 59.5% and 53.5%, dropping 2.8 and 8.6 percentage points over a month ago, respectively. Nevertheless, the mainstream joint-venture brands’ monthly index jumped 10.8 percentage points from Dec. 2022 to 65.7%.