The automotive sector in focus: Sales figures and NEVs
Auto manufacturers were cautiously navigating a landscape of tenuous global demand before coronavirus pandemic concerns disrupted worldwide production and upset supply and demand. Indeed, the impact on consumption was severe. However, robust balance sheets allowed most automakers to navigate a difficult 2020 safely. Ensuing such challenging period for auto manufacturers, 2021 has thus far proved optimistic. Total vehicles sales in China increased 8.6 per cent year-on-year to 2.25 million units in April 2021, a 13th consecutive month of increases and a figure well surpassing that of April 2019 – a pre-pandemic level. Sales of passenger cars rose 10.8 per cent from a year earlier to 1.7 million. Meanwhile, sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) soared 180 per cent from a year earlier to 206,000 units. In the January-April period, automotive sales jumped 52 per cent from a year earlier to 8.74 million, as the world's largest automotive market consolidates its recovery from last year's contraction. Compared to the same period in 2019, China’s auto sales rose 4.4 per cent, in 2021. In April, US automotive sales increased to 18.5 million from 17.7 million units in the previous month – a...