Vehicle sales edge up in November; industry body sees weakness ahead

China’s vehicle sales grew a slow 0.7 percent in November, prompting an industry association official to strike a guarded note for sales in the world’s biggest car market this year and beyond.

In November, sales totaled 2.96 million vehicles, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed on Monday.

Sales in the first 11 months of this year totaled 25.8 million vehicles, up 3.6 percent from the same period a year earlier, the CAAM said.

November marked the sixth consecutive month of gains, but Xu Haidong, one of the CAAM officials who briefed reporters on the figures, said that China’s auto sales are set to grow “no more than 4 percent” in 2017, which would be weaker than the 5 percent forecast issued at the beginning of the year.

The official said the CAAM expected sales growth to re- main weak next year as well.

Xu ascribed the slower-thanexpected growth this year and the forecast for next year to underlying challenges in the market, which saw a slow start to the year due to tax incentives on smaller-engine cars being phased out.

Sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) rose 83 percent in November from a year earlier to about 119,000 amid a government push to support the sector and shift away from traditional gasoline-powered cars. NEV sales in the January-November period totaled 609,000, up 51.4 percent year-on-year.

Xu said the industry should be able to achieve the CAAM’s target of selling 700,000 NEVs this year. He said that NEV sales next year might exceed 1 million.

NEVs refer to all-electric battery vehicles and plug-in gasoline-electric hybrids.

China’s policymakers have set strict production and sales quotas for NEVs that automakers must meet starting in 2019. Those policies are prompting a flurry of electric car deals and new launches of electric and hybrid models as companies push to ensure they do not fall short.