Chinese group says sales dropped 48% last month

SHANGHAI: China’s auto association estimates that sales in April dropped 48% year-on-year, as zero COVID-19 policies shut factories, limited traffic to showrooms and put the brakes on spending.

The estimate represents the steepest decline in sales for the world’s largest auto market since February, 2020, near the outset of the pandemic, when sales fell 79% from a year earlier.

Car sales in the first four months of the year could fall 12.3% from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Friday.

Thesharpdeclineisthelatestsignoftheeconomic costs of the emergency measures China imposed to control a coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai and other cities in recent weeks and comes as manufacturers batle to restart production.

The overall sales estimate was also lower than an earlier one based on retail sales for the first three weeks of April.

The China Passenger Car Association had estimated retail deliveries of passenger cars in China were running 39% lower in the first three weeks of April from a year earlier.

Showrooms, stores and malls in Shanghai were shut over the month and its 25 million residents were unable to shop online for much beyond food and daily necessities.

Analysts at Nomura estimated in mid-april that 45 cities, representing 40% of China’s GDP, were under full or partial lockdowns, with a growing risk of recession.

A survey by an association of China’s auto dealers showed that showrooms in 34 cities had been closed by COVID-19 control measures in April, most for more than a week.