BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- China's automobile consumption is rapidly picking up steam, with the country's increased efforts to resume production and the introduction of automobile consumption stimulus policies in many regions, the Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily reported on Friday.
Automobile sales of the key retail enterprises monitored by the authorities have increased by more than 20 percent since late April, compared with those in late March, showing a sign of good recovery, according to 2020 China Auto Consumption Forum on Thursday.
The latest data released by the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) shows that China's automobile consumption index was 67.6 in April 2020. It is expected that the automobile transaction volume in May will be close to the level of the same period last year, and second-hand car sales may show positive year-on-year growth.
Since March, the monthly car sales have been growing rapidly. Leading enterprises such as SAIC Motor and Geely Auto have recovered their sales in April to the same period last year. It is believed that from May, there will be more and more automobile enterprises to see their development speed return to the normal before the epidemic, said Wu Yingqiu, chairman and CEO of Global Auto Media, a large integrated marketing service platform for the Chinese automobile industry.
In addition to the obvious recovery in the new car sales, the second-hand car market is also rebounding. With the staged achievements in epidemic prevention and control, the second-hand car market gradually resumed work in March, with the resumption rate of the trading market and dealers reaching more than 97 percent.
Starting in March, the transaction volume of the second-hand cars grew week by week. The transaction volume in the first quarter recovered to more than 60 percent of that in the same period last year.
With the implementation of the tax reduction policy, it will stimulate some consumers' demand for car purchases. In May, second-hand car sales may show positive year-on-year growth, and market transactions will develop well. However, the competition is fierce and the car supply is tight. It is expected that the inventory in May will decline, said a second-car sales manager.
Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the CADA, said at a monthly meeting that given the factors such as support policies, macroeconomics, consumer demand and seasonal adjustments, the automobile transaction volume in April is expected to be 1.057 million units, down 11.92 percent year-on-year, but an increase of 11.3 percent month-on-month, exceeding the level in the same period of 2017.
He forecast that the five-day May Day holiday will bring about a rebound in the number of buyers, and the automobile transaction volume in May is expected to be close to the level of the same period last year. (Edited by Hu Pingchao with Xinhua Silk Road, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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