(Yicai) Aug. 9 -- Auto sales in China fell for the fourth consecutive month in July amid soft domestic demand and an uncertain external environment, while more than half of the cars sold were new energy vehicles for the first time ever.

Retail sales of passenger cars declined 2.8 percent to 1.72 million units last month from a year earlier, according to data released yesterday by the China Passenger Car Association. Some 878,000 NEVS were sold, a 37 percent jump, to account for 51 percent of all auto sales in July.

The long price war in China’s auto market reached a turning point last month, as carmakers began to guide dealers to ease the vicious price competition, with the premium luxury market segment stabilising, said CPCA Secretary-General Cui Dongshu.

This turning point will also impact sales this month, Cui noted. But in the long run, it will help bring stability for producers and dealers and gradually bring operations to a healthy level, he said.

Chinese auto brands sold 1.06 million cars in July, up 13 percent from a year ago and accounting for 61.8 percent of the total, compared with 53.3 percent in the same period of last year. About 74 percent of them were NEVs.

Meanwhile, joint venture carmakers sold about 440,000 vehicles, down 25 percent on a year earlier. Their NEV sales accounted for only 8.3 percent of the total.

Vehicle exports soared 26 percent to 553,000 in July, according to customs data. By value, they jumped 14 percent to about USD10 billion. Passenger car exports rose 20 percent to 376,000, buoyed by the currency exchange rate, the CPCA’s figures showed. Exports are expected to grow again this month.

In the first half of the year, exports by Chinese auto brands surged 57 percent from a year earlier. In June alone, they climbed 45 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione