Beijing (ZXZC)- In April 2023, the Chinese automotive market witnessed a significant year-on-year growth in production and sales, mainly due to the low base effect from the same period last year. 

The production and sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and automobile exports sustained their positive trend in April. However, the consumer demand for automobiles was sluggish due to the price war in the domestic auto market since March, leading to a wait-and-see mood from consumers. 

Additionally, the recovery of China’s commercial vehicle sector was slower than expected, further contributing to the unfavorable conditions. As a result, the production and sales of commercial vehicles in April experienced a decline compared to March. These phenomenons indicate that the automotive consumption is still in the process of gradual recovery facing several challenges.

In the fourth month of 2023, China produced 2.133 million vehicles in total, representing a 17.5% drop over the previous month, but reflecting a 76.8% surge over the previous year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). At the same time, China's monthly auto sales amounted to 2.159 million vehicles, decreasing 11.9% from a month ago, but shooting up 82.7% from the year-ago period. 

In the first four months of this year, there were 8.355 million and 8.235 million vehicles produced and sold across the country, which climbed up 8.6% and 7.1% year over year, respectively.

Regarding the performance of NEVs in the past month, there were roughly 636,000 NEVs sold by automakers in China in April, which skyrocketed 110% year on year. NEVs accounted for 29.5% of the country's total auto sales last month, of which battery-electric vehicles are still the most popular choice among NEV buyers.

QQ Ice-cream; photo credit: Chery New Energy

In the Jan.-Apr. period, China's NEV sales surged 42.8% from a year ago to 2.222 million vehicles, taking up 27% of the total China auto sales volume in the period.

In the past month, there were roughly 376,000 vehicles exported outside of the country by automakers in China, edging up 3.3% month on month. Compared to the same month last year, China's auto export volume shot up 170% in April. 

Of the vehicles shipped overseas last month, about 100,000 units were NEVs, hiking up 28.6% from the previous month and soaring 840% year on year. 

In the first four months of this year, there were 1.37 million vehicles exported overseas from China, representing an 89.2% spike from a year ago. Among which, 348,000 units were NEVs, indicating a year-on-year surge of 170%.

China's passenger vehicle sales came in at 1.811 million units in April 2023, sliding 10.2% over the previous month while surging 87.7% over the previous year. Monthly sales of conventional oil-fueled vehicles in the country dropped 15.8% from March this year to 985,000 vehicles.

In the first four months of 2023, a total sales volume of 6.949 million passenger vehicles were achieved by automakers in China, increasing 6.8% compared to the prior-year period.

Last month, sales of China-branded passenger vehicles totaled 999,000 units, accounting for 55.2% of China's overall passenger vehicle sales, which slipped 1.9 percentage points year on year. 

As to the performance of China’s commercial vehicle market, production and sales volumes of commercial vehicles stood at 355,000 units and 348,000 units in April, indicating a respective 18.4% and 19.9% decline over a month ago.

In the Jan.-Apr. period, there were a total of 1.303 million and 1.286 million commercial vehicles produced and sold by companies in China, both increasing 8.8% from the earlier year.