China's car sales snapped an eight-month streak of on-year declines as the world's largest auto market started to recover from Covid-19 disruptions and supply chain headwinds.

Retail sales of passenger cars in February rose 4.2% from a year earlier to 1.25 million vehicles, the China Passenger Car Association said Tuesday. The sales include estimated figures from car makers that haven't officially reported their results.

The association also adjusted its figures for January sales to an on-year fall of 5.0%, versus the estimated decline of 4.4% that it reported last month.

Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars in February more than doubled to 272,000 vehicles from a year earlier, the association said.

The association predicted a slow recovery in China's car market as the weakened real estate industry continues to hurt consumer sentiment, and as sporadic Covid-19 infections disrupt business activities.

The sales of two China joint ventures of Volkswagen AG fell 19.0% and 9.6% in February, data from the association showed.

Honda Motor Co. said its sales in China last month surged 30.1% from a year earlier. Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales grew 9.5% and Nissan Motor Co.'s rose 2.5%.

Tesla Inc. sold 56,515 cars made at its Shanghai factory, 59% of which were exported outside China, data from the association showed.

BYD Co.'s sales more than quadrupled in February from a year earlier to nearly 90,000 vehicles, most of which were electric cars, data from the association showed.

To further shore up the local car market, Chinese officials and policymakers have said they are considering extending government subsidies for purchases of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The subsidies are supposed to be canceled by the end of this year.

 

Write to Singapore Editors at singaporeeditors@dowjones.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 08, 2022 04:49 ET (09:49 GMT)

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