Chinese Car Makers Report Weak Sales Figures for February
Chinese car companies have successively released sales data for February, with the overall market showing weakness and most car manufacturers experiencing significant declines in sales compared to the previous month. Among them, BYD’s sales in February dropped by 40% year-on-year, marking the largest decline in six years.
According to the sales data announced by BYD, sales in February decreased by 41.1% year-on-year, to 190,000 vehicles, marking the sixth consecutive month of decline. Domestic sales saw an even more drastic plunge of 65%. Reuters pointed out that this is BYD’s largest decline since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020.
A relevant person from the China Automobile Dealers Association told Securities Daily reporters that terminal automobile retail sales were under significant pressure in February. On one hand, the Chinese New Year holiday led to a reduction in effective sales days, and the flow of customers to stores decreased due to people returning home for the festival. On the other hand, pre-holiday inventory clearance, adjustments in new energy vehicle purchase tax policies, and consumer expectations for promotions at spring auto shows further exacerbated the “wait-and-see” sentiment.
However, Reuters noted that BYD’s declining trend in sales has surpassed seasonal factors. In the first two months of this year, its global sales dropped by 35.8% year-on-year, also marking the largest decline during the same period since 2020.
Although in February BYD’s sales in overseas markets exceeded those in the domestic market for the first time, concerns have already arisen. According to a recent report by Bloomberg, based on data from market research company Dataforce, last month the market share of hybrid vehicles registered in Europe under brands such as BYD and SAIC Motor’s MG was 15%, down nearly 3 percentage points from December 2024. The market share of pure electric vehicles from China also experienced a similar decline, to 12%.
In February, Geely Automobile’s sales surpassed BYD for the second consecutive month, with sales in the first two months of this year exceeding BYD by approximately 76,000 vehicles. BYD’s Chairman Wang Chuanfu stated in a company event in December last year that as competitors are catching up, the company’s technological edge is weakening, impacting sales performance.
Apart from BYD, other traditional car manufacturers that have announced their February sales performances have also fared poorly. According to Beijing News, SAIC, Chery, Great Wall, and Geely saw month-on-month increases and year-on-year increases of -17.7%, -19.7%, -16.6%, and -23.6%, and -8.6%, -11.2%, -6.8%, 1% respectively.
New energy car manufacturers that have announced their February sales have similarly experienced significant declines in sales compared to the previous month. Except for Jike Auto with a marginal increase of 0.06%, Zerun, Ideal, NIO, and Xiaomi witnessed declines of 12.5%, 4.5%, 23.5%, and 48.7%.
“During this year’s Chinese New Year period, even though our store had sales staff on rotating shifts, the foot traffic was not high. Occasionally, there were visitors interested in looking at the cars, but actual transactions were rare,” a salesperson from a Japanese joint venture brand shared with Daily Economic News reporters.
Another salesperson from an independent brand also admitted, “During the Chinese New Year period, our store only had 10 transactions, mostly from those who had already visited before the festival and were highly interested.”
Standard & Poor’s Global released a report earlier this year indicating that despite China extending automotive subsidies until 2026, it is still challenging to prevent a decline in sales. Passenger car sales in China are expected to decrease by 1% to 3% in 2026. Car manufacturers are facing another difficult year due to multiple factors like declining demand, increased purchase tax on electric vehicles, and government measures against industry redundancy.