China: Car Sales Rebounding for the First Time in Two Years

Beijing's stimulus measures and COVID-19 containment measures have helped the country's leading car production provinces—Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Shandong, Jilin, and Liaoning—to increase production in April by more than 20 percent compared to the same month one year ago. Car sales increased to 1.9 million units, which while representing zero growth from on year ago, it also marks the first time since July 2018 that car sales did not decline and brings sales within reach of the 2.2 million unit monthly average recorded since 2014.

• While the impact of COVID-19 on China's auto industry was dramatic—car sales decreased 80 percent in February and 46 percent in March on a year-over-year basis—the general sales slump pre-dates COVID-19. Sales decreased by 8 percent in 2019, and 3 percent in 2018.