China’s New-Car Wholesales Climb 11%

Factory wholesales of light-duty vehicles in China rose 11% to 1.91 million units last month, according to the China Assn. of Automobile Manufacturers.

CAAM says wholesales of conventional sedans grew 11% to 928,300 cars. Demand for SUV/crossovers soared 18% to 810,000 units. Volumes fell for MPVs (-5% to 137,100 units) and minibuses (-31% to 39,000).

April’s results helped push light-vehicle wholesales through the first four months of 2018 above 8 million units, up 5% from the same period last year, according to the trade group.

Sales of so-called new-energy vehicles last month more than doubled to 82,000 units, including 65,000 all-electric cars. Sales of plug-in hybrids tripled to 17,000 cars.