China: Auto production slumps 7.4% on month in Aug'21, sales down 3.5%

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in Aug'21 the production and sales of automobiles were 1.725 million units and 1.799 million units, respectively. While production slumped 7.4%, sales dropped by 3.5% on month. Production and sales decreased 18.7% and 17.8% respectively year-on-year.

The declines were steeper than Jul's 3.2 and 5.9 percentage points. Compared with the same period in 2019, production and sales fell by 13.4% and 8.2% respectively y-o-y, and the growth rate of production and sales changed from positive to negative as the decline was significant.

From the perspective of monthly sales in 2019 and 2020, the sales levels from Sept to Dec were significantly higher than the preceding months, indicating that market demand will increase m-o-m, and the problem of tight chip supply is superimposed, as future pressure on enterprises for production is expected to be significant.

From Jan to Aug'21, the production and sales of automobiles were 16.166 million and 16.556 million units, respectively, an increase of 11.9% and 13.7%, respectively y-o-y. The growth rate continued to drop by 5.3% and 5.6% for production and sales respectively from Jan to Jul.

Compared with the same period in 2019, production and sales increased by 1.3% and 2.7%, respectively, y-o-y, and the growth rate of production and sales dropped 2.1% and 1.5% during the period.

Automobiles as a whole: Aug sales were 1.799 million units, a decrease of 17.8%; cumulative sales from Jan to Aug were 16.556 million units, an increase of 13.7%.

Passenger cars: Aug sales were 1.552 million units, down 11.7%; Jan-Aug sales were 13.112 million units, up 16%.

Commercial vehicles: Sales in Aug were 247,000 units, a decrease of 42.8%; Jan-Aug sales were 3.444 million units, an increase of 5.5%.

New energy vehicles: 321,000 vehicles were sold in Aug, an increase of 181.9%; Jan-Aug sales were 1.799 million units, an increase of 194%.

Chinese brand passenger vehicles: Aug sales were 704,000 units, an increase of 6.8%; Jan-Aug sales were 5.612 million units, an increase of 36.7%.

Automobile exports: In Aug, the export volume was 187,000, an increase of 161.9%; the cumulative export volume from Jan to Aug was 1.189 million, an increase of 128.9%.