Shanghai (ZXZC)- China's passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales amounted to 1.587 million units in Mar. 2023, edging up 0.3% from the previous year, while also jumping 14.3% from the previous month, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

For clarity, the passenger vehicles hereby refer to the cars, SUVs, and MPVs locally produced on the Chinese mainland.

PV retail sales in March were relatively weak, which resulted from consumers’ stronger wait-and-see mood led by such factors as weak demands and market price confusion, said the CPCA. In terms of the weekly trend, PV sales were pretty low in the first two weeks of last month, and the overall market gradually recovered in late Mar.

For the first quarter of this year, China’s PV market posted a 13.4% year-on-year decrease in year-to-date sales, which amounted to roughly 4.261 million units. The decline was partly attributed to this year's Spring Festival being the earliest in this century, and consumers’ growing wait-and-see sentiment spurred by stimulus policies, sales promotions, etc.

There were around 270,000 luxury PVs retailed across China last month, representing a 17% year-on-year growth and a 35% month-on-month jump. The luxury car market has gradually strengthened as the shortage of high-end cars caused by the chip supply constraints last year has waned.

Chinese indigenous PV brands recorded a combined retail sales volume of roughly 770,000 units in Mar., which was 2% and 9% more than that of the year-ago and month-ago periods, respectively.

The CPCA's data show that China's local brands accounted for 48.8% of the country's total PV retail volume last month, 0.7 percentage points higher than the prior-year level.

With about 540,000 PVs delivered in Mar., mainstream joint ventures in China faced a 9% decline from a year earlier, but posted an 11% growth from the previous month.

Among the top 10 automakers by Mar. PV retail sales in China, BYD still ranked highest in terms of both sales volume and the year-on-year growth. Besides, Tesla ranked sixth with its retail sales of China-made vehicles rising 16.6% from a year earlier to 770,000 units last month. BMW Brilliance was also included in the top 10 rankings.

China's monthly PV wholesale volume reached 1.987 million units in Mar., rising 9.3% and 22.9% compared to both the prior-year and prior-month periods.

China’s local automakers saw their PV wholesales total 1.05 million units in Mar., which jumped 20% and 22% from the previous year and previous month, respectively. In the same period, the PV wholesale volume of mainstreams joint ventures reached around 640,000 units, growing 24% month over month, but shrinking 12% year over year.

There were about 290,000 luxury PVs sold across the Chinese mainland last month through wholesale, representing a 33% jump over a year earlier and a 17% growth over a month ago.

With regard to the PV wholesale volume in Mar., BYD still outshone other automakers with a wholesale volume of around 206,000 units. Among the top 10 automakers, BYD, FAW-Volkswagen, Changan Auto (self-owned PV brands), Chery Auto, Geely Auto, Tesla, and SAIC Motor PV all gained a year-on-year rise.

As for production performance, China’s locally-produced PV output amounted to 2.079 million units last month, growing 13.8% and 24.9% from a year earlier and a month earlier, respectively.

According to the data compiled by the CPCA, China's passenger vehicle export volume (including complete vehicles and CKDs) reached roughly 290,000 units in Mar., zooming up 172% from the prior-year period, while also growing 15% from the previous month.

In the Jan.-Mar. period, China exported a total of 78,000 passenger vehicles (+90% YoY), 24% of which were contributed by new energy vehicles.