China’s new light-vehicle market contracted for the seventh month in November amid lingering semiconductor shortages and other supply-chain disruptions.
Sales of sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses dropped 4.7 percent to 2.19 million last month from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.
Overall November sales beat CAAM's expectations, CAAM spokesperson Chen Shihua said, pointing to the impact of falling raw materials prices and an easing of power shortages that had halted output at many factories in prior months.
He said the semiconductor shortage, however, would continue to pressure the auto industry in December, although auto demand would be steady as the economy improves.
Through November, new light-vehicle sales rose 7.1 percent to 19.06 million on the back of a strong first-quarter rebound.
A sharp contraction in the new commercial-vehicle market continued after China raised emissions standards on heavy-duty trucks to State 6 rules on July 1, matching Euro 6 standards.
In November, deliveries of new commercial vehicles including trucks and buses tumbled 30 percent to around 330,000, with year-to-date volume decreasing 5.3 percent to 4.43 million.
Sales of all new vehicles industrywide slipped 9.1 percent to 2.52 million last month.
The overall new-vehicle market has now grown 4.5 percent to approach 23.5 million behind a 77 percent rebound in the first quarter.
