China's locally-made PV retail sales grow MoM, YoY in Feb. 2023

The CPCA explained that the MoM growth in Feb. PV retail sales is a reasonable trend in line with the industry expectations, as a result of the combined influence of some factors like the withdrawal of the Spring Festival holiday.

For the first two months of 2023, China’s passenger vehicle market posted a 19.7% year-over-year decrease in its cumulative retail sales, which came in at 2.719 million units.

There were around 200,000 luxury PVs retailed across China last month, representing a 23% year-on-year jump and an 8% month-on-month growth. The luxury car market has gradually strengthened as the shortage of high-end cars caused by the chip supply constraints last year has waned. 

Chinese indigenous PV brands recorded a combined retail sales volume of roughly 710,000 units in Feb., which was 29% and 12% more than that of the year-ago and month-ago periods, respectively.

The CPCA's data show that China's local brands accounted for 51.1% of the country's total PV retail volume last month, 7 percentage points higher than the prior-year level.

With about 480,000 PVs delivered in Feb., mainstream joint ventures in China faced a 12% decline from a year earlier, but posted a 2% growth from the previous month.

Among the top 10 automakers by Feb. PV retail sales in China, BYD ranked highest in terms of both the sales volume and the year-on-year growth. Besides, Changan Auto’s wholly-owned PV brands, Geely Auto, and GAC Toyota all scored a two-digit year-on-year growth as well.

China's monthly PV wholesale volume reached 1.645 million units last month, rising at a double-digit rate compared to both the year-ago and month-ago periods.

With regard to the PV wholesale volume in Feb., BYD still outshone other automakers with a wholesale volume of around 192,000 units. Among the top 10 automakers, BYD, Changan (self-owned PV brands), Geely Auto, Chery Auto, Tesla, and GAC Toyota all gained a robust year-on-year jump.

Although BMW Brilliance and Beijing Benz failed to enter the top 10 rankings by Feb. wholesale volume, the two Sino-German joint ventures also scored a significant upward movement, the CPCA added. 

As for production performance, China’s locally-produced PV output amounted to 1.692 million units last month, growing 11.1% and 23.6% from a year earlier and a month earlier, respectively.

According to the data compiled by the CPCA, China's passenger vehicle export volume (including complete vehicles and CKDs) reached 250,000 units in Feb., zooming up 89% from the prior-year period, while also climbing 8% from the previous month.

In the Jan.-Feb. period, China exported a total of 488,000 passenger vehicles (+61% YoY), 31% of which were contributed by new energy vehicles.