(Yicai Global) May 11 -- China's auto market notched another month of fast recovery last month as the Covid-19 epidemic eases its grip on the country, according to an industry organization.

Passenger car sales rose by 37 percent to 1.4 million units in April from a month earlier, according to data that the China Passenger Car Association released today. That was the second straight month of sales rising by nearly 40 percent.

But when comparing to last year, those figures still look sluggish. From January to April, sales declined by 33 percent to 44.5 million units from a year ago. And last year was already abysmal for the auto market that entered a downturn for the first time in nearly two decades in 2018.

The domestic car market has entered a post-epidemic era this month, wrote CPCA's Secretary-General Cui Dongshu in the same press release. But the short-term outlook for the global economy is still bleak as car parts supply chains are disrupted amid worries about production and sales despite the gradually normalizing work conditions around the world, Cui added.

In April, China's market leaders included two joint ventures of Germany's Volkswagen Group. FAW-Volkswagen Automobile ranked No. 1, increasing its sales by 11 percent from a year ago to more than 162,300 units. SAIC Volkswagen Automotive was No. 2 and SAIC Motor followed after that.

Not all brands fared equally. Last month turned out to be one of the best times to buy a luxury vehicle due to discounts while such sales rose by 16 percent from a year ago.

New energy vehicle sales reached 64,000 units over the month. The market share of domestic NEV brands climbed to over 61 percent while BYD, FAW-Volkswagen, Changan Ford Automobile, Nio, and Lixiang Automotive were some of the most popular sellers.

Editor: Emmi Laine