Data published by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed that car sales declined again in December, recording the eighth monthly drop in a row, which was due to a surge in the incidence of coronavirus and a shortage of semiconductors.
According to the report, last month car sales fell by 1.6% per annum, to 2.79 million units. Meanwhile, for the whole of 2021, car sales increased by 3.8% per annum, to 26.28 million units.
The global shortage of semiconductors has negatively affected global car production, which in turn caused an increase in car prices, and caused a drop in sales.
However, the exception was the new energy vehicles (NEV) sector - in December sales increased by 114% per annum, amounting to 531,000 units. In part, the growth in sales of these cars is due to the efforts of the Chinese government to reduce air pollution.
According to the latest forecasts of CAAM, in 2022, car sales will grow by 5.4% per annum, to 27.5 million units, while sales of NEV will increase by 47% per annum, to 5 million units.