China tops auto industry recovery with more-than-expected sales

China’s auto sales this year are seen to hit up to 25 million units, an industry body said on Friday. China leads the global auto industry recovery from downfall during the COVID-19 pandemic onslaught.

China Association of Automobile Manufacturers’ executive vice-chairman Fu Bingfeng announced during its annual conference in Beijing that the institution expects Chinese sales of more than 20 million passenger vehicles and 5 million commercial vehicles this year including buses and trucks.

In 2019, the leading auto industry in the world sold over 25.77 million vehicles.

According to the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology official, Bai Hua, China expects to sell beyond 1.3 million new energy vehicles (NEV) this year, relatively higher from its 1.2 million sales record in 2019. NEVs include battery-powered electric, plug-in petrol-electric hybrid, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

According to Fu Bingfeng, CAAM is also expecting sales to expand in 2021 and hit 30 million units in 2025.