(Yicai Global) May 12 -- China’s auto sales extended gains for a 13th month in a row in April, but markedly slowed after skyrocketing in March, new industry figures showed today.

Some 2.25 million vehicles were sold last month, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier and 13.5 percent from April 2019, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed. In March, sales had soared 77.4 percent due to a low baseline a year earlier when the market took a drubbing from the pandemic.

Since April last year, China’s auto market has gradually recovered from the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

In the first four months of this year, sales reached 8.75 million vehicles, up 51.8 percent from a year ago and 4.5 percent from the same period in 2019.

Passenger vehicle sales climbed 10.8 percent to 1.7 million in April, while commercial vehicle sales rose 2.3 percent to 548,000, according to the CAAM data.

New energy vehicles also maintained strong sales growth in April, gaining 164 percent from a year ago to 216,000. Of that, 203,000 were passenger cars and 13,000 were commercial vehicles.

NEV sales hit 750,000 from January to April, a year-on-year jump of 258 percent.

Auto exports more than doubled to over 151,000 vehicles last month, hitting a new high, the CAAM said. Some 23,000 were NEVs in a 450 percent surge.

The global chip shortage will have a marked impact on Chinese automakers this quarter, according to Chen Shihua, the CAAM’s deputy secretary-general. In addition, higher raw material prices are piling pressure on carmakers, but the CAAM is still cautiously optimistic for the auto industry.

Editor: Tom Litting