(Yicai Global) May 11 -- Car sales in China fell month on month in April, as potential buyers took a wait-and-see attitude as automakers and dealers slash prices.

Some 2.2 million cars were sold in the country last month, down 11.9 percent from March, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed today. Sales jumped 83 percent from a year earlier because of the low comparative base in April 2022.

Tesla sparked a price war in the world’s biggest auto market in early January, when it cut them by between 6 percent and 13.5 percent. Since then more than 40 carmakers, both Chinese and foreign, have followed suit.

China's vehicle consumption is slowly recovering, while the production, sale, and export of new energy vehicles keeps booming, the CAAM noted.

Sales of NEVs surged 110 percent to 636,000 units last month from a year earlier, taking a market share of nearly 30 percent, up from 26 percent in the three months ended March 31, according to figures that came out earlier.

China's vehicle exports grew strongly, with Chinese carmakers shipping 376,000 autos overseas in April, up 3.3 percent from the prior month and surging 170 percent from the same period of last year. NEV exports jumped 28.6 percent to 100,000 last month from March, 9.4 times from a year ago.

Per a joint statement from the environment and other ministries on May 9, China will introduce tougher vehicle emissions standards in July as planned, but will also extend to the end of this year the sales period for light old car models that do not meet the upgraded standards.

The production, import, and sale of vehicles that do not meet China’s VI B emission standards, which include requirements on pollutants such as carbon monoxide in fossil fuel-powered vehicles, will be banned from July 1, the statement said. There will be a half-year grace period for sales of non-compliant lightweight vehicles.

The pressure to clear inventories of vehicles that would fail to meet the new standards before the July deadline was widely regarded as the key reason carmakers joined in the auto price war.

Car companies have had enough time to clear inventories, Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association said on May 9, adding that the market is unlikely to see further widespread promotions because of stock clearance.

Editor: Martin Kadiev