After declining for 16 straight months, light-vehicle output in China grew in November, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said this week. Encouraging as it is, the development may not offer much relief for carmakers for two main reasons. 

New electrified-vehicle sales in China are on track to decline in 2019 after falling for five straight months, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. 

New-vehicle sales at General Motors’ joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp. slumped another 34 percent to 119,304 in November. Through November, deliveries at SAIC-GM, which builds and markets Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet cars and light trucks, fell 18 percent to below 1.48 million, according to SAIC, a Shanghai-listed company.

Volkswagen, the largest car brand in China, bucked the market downturn for a third straight month with November deliveries rising 4 percent to 316,700. 

Volkswagen declared the launch of the Jetta subbrand in China a successful one with sales of nearly 30,000 in the first three months.

China’s largest electrified vehicle maker, BYD Co., secured major orders for battery-electric buses from public transport operators in the Netherlands and Colombia. BYD signed a contract with Keolis Nederland, a Dutch public transport provider, to supply 259 electric buses. Deliveries will begin in summer 2020. 

The luxury segment remains the only bright spot in China’s bearish new-vehicle market, with the three largest luxury brands -- Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW -- each posting double-digit sales growth for November.

Sales at Geely Automobile Holdings, defying the market downturn, rose for the second straight month in November behind volume at the new Lynk & CO brand. 

EV sales in China keep falling after June’s steep cut in subsidies for EVs and plug-in hybrids. Despite shrinking demand, Beijing continues to prod automakers to build far more electrified products in the future than before.

Polestar, Volvo Car Corp.'s electrified performance brand, started trial production of its second model at a plant run by Volvo’s Chinese parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, in east China’s Zhejiang province.

Lexus has sold more vehicles in China than Cadillac for two months in a row thanks to robust demand for the Japanese luxury brand’s hybrid models. 

Daimler launched a mobility joint venture with Chinese shareholder Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in China to provide ride-hailing services with Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

German supplier Bosch broke ground on a fuel cell battery development center in the east China city of Wuxi with the aim of supplying the emerging local fuel cell vehicle market. 

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group selected South Korea as the first export market for its commercial vehicles.  The automaker’s commercial vehicle unit signed up the international trade arm of Korean steel giant Posco and Korean electrified vehicle developer Curo Group Co. as strategic partners for the export program. 

Toyota Motor Co. has become the first Japanese carmaker to provide new mobility services in China with a startup primarily targeting tourists in Hainan.