AUTONEWS

A visitor posing next to a car at the booth of Chinese carmaker Arcfox
Trump effect: Car sales back in china

Car sales in China fell 17.5% year-on-year in the first two months of the year, reflecting the slowdown in the Chinese economy at a time of growing trade friction with the United States.
According to the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers, between January and February 3.2 million sport utility vehicles, minivans and sedans were sold.
In 2018, car sales in China fell by 5.8% to 22.35 million vehicles in the first annual decline since 1990, coinciding with other negative indicators of the Chinese economy.
This is a step backwards for major construction companies, which announced plans worth billions of euros in order to meet the Chinese government's targets for the development of electric vehicles.
The world's second largest economy grew 6.6 percent last year, the slowest pace in nearly three decades.
Economic activity remained robust for most of the year, despite the trade war it waged last summer with Washington and sparked by Chinese ambitions for the technology sector.
However, exports fell in December, reflecting the effects of the entry into force of a second round of customs duties in the United States, about $ 200 billion worth of goods from China.
The drop in sales suggests that Beijing should cut taxes or offer other incentives.
In the first two months of the year, Chinese brands fell by 23% in sales to 1.3 million units, with their domestic market share falling 41.8%, a year-on-year decline of 3%.
Growth in sales of pure electric and hybrid vehicles, which Beijing is subsidizing, rose 98.9% over the previous year to 148,000 units.
Sales of SUVs dropped 18.6 percent to 141 thousand units.