CAR sales in China declined for a 17th consecutive month in November, with the number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold contracting for a fifth month in a row, extending a historic slump and all but ensuring a second straight annual drop for the world’s biggest auto market.

Total auto sales in the world’s biggest auto market fell 3.6 percent from the same month a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the country’s biggest auto industry association, said yesterday.

That follows a drop of 4 percent in October and 5.2 percent in September. Car sales in the country contracted last year for the first time since the 1990s against a backdrop of slowing economic growth and Sino-U.S. trade tensions.

In November, sales of NEVs fell 43.7 percent, the CAAM said, following a 45.6 percent drop in October. NEV sales had jumped almost 62 percent last year even as the broader auto market contracted.

The prolonged car sales crisis has made global car makers from Ford to PSA cut China production plans.

Geely, China’s best known carmaker globally, posted a 1 percent year-on-year sales growth in November while China’s biggest carmaker SAIC Motor saw a 9.6 percent drop due to poor performance from joint ventures with General Motors.

NEV sales at both BYD and BAIC’s electric vehicle unit BluePark, in which Daimler has a stake, fell around 63 percent last month from a year ago.

(SD-Agencies)