AUTO sales in China fell for a 14th consecutive month in August, and the number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold contracted for the second month in a row, data from the country’s biggest auto industry association showed.

Total auto sales fell 6.9 percent from the same month a year earlier to 1.96 million, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said yesterday.

That followed declines of 4.3 percent in July and 9.6 percent in June, as well as the first annual contraction last year since the 1990s against a backdrop of slowing economic growth and a trade dispute with the United States.

Sales of new energy vehicles fell 15.8 percent in August, the CAAM said, following a 4.7 percent fall in July — their first decline since January 2017. NEV sales jumped almost 62 percent last year even as the broader auto market contracted.

NEVs include plug-in hybrids, battery-only electric vehicles and those powered by hydrogen fuel cells. China has been a keen supporter of NEVs and has brought in sales quota requirements for automakers.

“Due to the impact of subsidies cut on new energy vehicles, sales for new energy vehicles continued to drop,” said Chen Shihua, assistant secretary general at the CAAM.(SD-Agencies)