AUTO sales in China surged in March for their 12th consecutive month of gains, as the car market leads the sector’s recovery from the pandemic. Sales reached 2.53 million vehicles in March, up 74.9 percent year on year, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed. Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs), including battery-powered electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, increased 239 percent in March to 226,000 units. NEV makers are expanding manufacturing capacity in China as it promotes greener vehicles to cut air pollution. Another auto industry body, China Passenger Car Association, said Friday Tesla sold 35,478 China-made cars in March. Chen Shihua, a senior executive at the CAAM, said the industry body expects the chip supply shortage to have bigger negative impact on China’s auto production in the second quarter than in the first. (SD-Agencies) |