China’s auto market shows signs of bottoming out after a second consecutive yearly sales drop in 2019, reported Caixin.
Sales of passenger vehicles including sedans, sport utility vehicles, minivans and multipurpose vehicles declined 7.4% from 2018 to 20.7 million, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), a trade organization. The world’s largest auto market booked its first annual declined in decades last year with a 5.8% drop.
Passenger car sales slipped 3.4% year-on-year in December alone, the 18th monthly drop in the past 19 months. But the pace of declines has slowed for four consecutive months.
Cui Dongshu, CPCA’s secretary general, said the group expects the market to reach a bottom soon. Cui said sales are likely to continue sliding this month with a drop of about 15% from a year earlier. But for the full year 2020, the association expects a 1% rebound for the overall auto market, Cui said.