Economic Watch: China's auto market perks up in June amid easing COVID-19 control, policy stimulus

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- China's auto sales regained strong momentum in June after dropping for three consecutive months, boosted by waning COVID-19 outbreaks and strong policy stimulus, industrial data showed on Monday.

A total of 2.5 million motor vehicles were sold in June, up 23.8 percent from one year earlier, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed.

Sales of passenger vehicles soared 41.2 percent year on year to 2.22 million units in June, data showed.

China's carmakers manufactured approximately 2.5 million vehicles in June, an increase of 28.2 percent year on year, the association said.

Thanks to the country's efforts to heavily promote the development of new energy vehicles (NEVs), the sector remains a bright spot. June's NEV sales hit a record high of 596,000 units, jumping 1.3 times from the same month of last year, data showed.

In the first half of 2022, overall vehicle sales in the world's largest car market hit 12.06 million units, with the sales of NEVs climbing 1.2 times from a year before, the association said.

The buoyant sales came after the implementation of a policy package to revive the industry that was hit hard by the pandemic, the CAAM said.

China in late May announced it would halve the car purchase tax for passenger vehicles priced at no more than 300,000 yuan (about 44,803 U.S. dollars) and with 2-liter engines or smaller. The tax cut will last from June 1 to the end of the year.

Some 1.09 million cars benefited from the cut during the first month of the policy's implementation, saving about 7.1 billion yuan for car buyers, according to the country's top taxation authority.

Policies have also been rolled out to bolster car consumption. The latest move came as China's authorities unveiled a raft of measures to spur demand, including facilitating the free flow of new energy cars among different regions, increasing numbers of parking lots and charging stations, and boosting parallel imports of cars.

Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the CAAM, said he expects that in the second half of 2022, buyer sentiment will recover further and policy incentives will continue to take effect.

The association, however, warned that the industry is still constrained by factors such as chip shortages, the rising costs of raw materials and uncertainties in geopolitical situations. It has called for further efforts to sustain growth.

The association expects steady growth for the whole year, predicting that annual sales of vehicles will reach 27 million units, up 3 percent year on year.