China’s new-vehicle market will grow 4 percent to more than 26 million in 2021 as the economy continues to recover from disruptions caused by the pandemic, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers predicts.
Car and light-truck deliveries will rise 7.5 percent to 21.7 million while new commercial vehicle demand will slip 10 percent to 4.6 million, Xu Haidong, an official at the industry trade group, said at a news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
Sales of new electrified vehicles including plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles will jump 40 percent to 1.8 million, he added.
2020 sales
New-vehicle demand grew for the ninth consecutive month in December, rising 6.4 percent to 2.83 million, as consumers and government spending rebounded in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
But full-year volume still fell for the third straight year, dipping 1.9 percent to 25.31 million.
Driven by major infrastructure construction across the country, much of it sparked by government outlays, sales of commercial vehicles including trucks and buses jumped 19 percent to 5.13 million last year.
But deliveries of light vehicles -- sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multi-purpose vehicles and minibuses -- shrank 6 percent to 20.18 million.
Electrified vehicles
Behind a rebound that began in July, sales of new electrified vehicles totaled 1.37 million in 2020, an increase of 11 percent from 2019.
Deliveries of electrified vehicles advanced 12 percent to 1.12 million while plug-in hybrid deliveries rose 8.4 percent to some 251,000. But sales of fuel cell vehicles plunged 57 percent to around 1,000.
