Chinese car sales fall for third month in a row
Chinese car sales declined for a third straight month in July, new data today showed, as the global shortage of semiconductors weighed on the world’s biggest auto market.
Figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed that sales fell 11.9 per cent to 1.86m, compared to the same month a year ago.
The trade body said that flooding in some parts of the country, as well as breakouts of Covid cases, had also weighed on sales.
For the first seven months of the year, however, sales are up 19 per cent overall, as the sector makes a rapid recovery from the lows of the pandemic.
But with carmakers around the world taking steps to curb production due to the semiconductor crisis, sales have begun to slow in recent months.
The CAAM warned that the shortage was likely to continue while the pandemic continues to rage.
Most large carmakers have warned that they expect the problem to last into 2022, but for supply constraints to ease as this year goes on.
On a brighter note, sales of electric vehicles more than doubled in July to reach 271,000.