Sales of passenger cars in China fell 14 per cent in the first half of the year compared with 2018, putting automakers in the world’s largest market on track for a historic second year of sales declines.
China’s car market shrank for the first time in almost three decades in 2018 due to receding consumer confidence and cuts to government subsidies, adding to pressure on the world’s largest carmakers including GM and Volkswagen, for which China is their largest market.
The gloom has persisted this year as Chinese economic growth has continued to slow and as the trade war with the US erodes business investment. But analysts said that recent retail sales suggested the decline in car sales may have bottomed out.