Alarm in China: Car sales plunged 22%, cut forecasts

Data for May show that 1.53 vehicles were sold, which is 22.3 percent less than in the same month last year. Sales thus decreased for the eighth month in a row, CPCA data show.

Citizens were significantly less inclined to buy a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, according to only 560 thousand vehicles sold, about 39 percent less than last year. Sales of fully electric vehicles and hybrids also decreased, by 7.5 percent, with 950 thousand vehicles sold.

Exports, on the other hand, jumped by 75.1 percent in May, according to the association’s data, but did not compensate for the decline in the domestic market.

However, the general secretary of the association, Cui Dongshu, is cautiously optimistic, forecasting that the market will gradually normalize in the third quarter and rise again in the last three months of 2026.

Foreign demand for Chinese electric vehicles is still strong, so in May, for the first time in nine months, BYD sold more vehicles than last year, notes dpa, and Nij sales also increased significantly.