LI - China car sales back to pre pandemic levels with 69% growth Y/Y in Q1 and 75% rise in March

China's retail sales of passenger cars rose 69% Y/Y to 5.09M vehicles in Q1, strongest quarterly growth in recent decades, returning to pre-pandemic levels - WSJ.Last year, Q1 sales contracted 42% Y/Y due to COVID-19.1Q21 sales matched nearly 5.08M passenger cars sold in 1Q19, but fell short of 1Q18 sales of 5.7M.March sales soared 74.9% to 2.53M vehicles with 239% growth in new energy vehicles (NEVs) to 226K units. Tesla sold 35,478 China-made cars in March.Sales of electric cars expanded to 437K in Q1, four times above the year ago total.China Passenger Car Association projects two million electric cars sales in China this year, citing to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.But the shortage of chips and other components will show negative effect in Q2 production.Daimler's sales of passenger cars in China rose 60% in Q1 while Nissan Motor's sales jumped 71%.Sector watch: Nio (NIO), Great Wall Motor (GWLLF), (GWLLY), Kandi Technologies (KNDI), Geely Automobile (GELYF), Volkswagen

For further details see:

China car sales back to pre pandemic levels with 69% growth Y/Y in Q1 and 75% rise in March