China car sales take hit at home but boom overseas

China's car sales fell again in April as export growth stayed strong, with automakers increasingly targeting overseas markets to offset intense competition at home, ⁠where a push towards higher-end models has yet to reverse a broader slowdown. Sales dropped 21.6 percent from a year earlier to 1.4 million vehicles, marking a seventh consecutive month of declines, data from the China Passenger Car Association said on Monday. Combustion engine car sales missed expectations due to ⁠high oil prices and demand for plug-in hybrids ⁠was also sluggish, said association secretary-general ⁠Cui Dongshu. Electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid sales, accounting for 60.6 percent of the ⁠total, slid 6.8 percent, extending a losing streak to four months. In contrast, EV and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle exports shot up 111.8 percent from a year earlier, outpacing a 80.2 percent ⁠increase in overall car exports, as rising global fuel prices triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran bolstered EV demand in overseas markets. The widening gap between domestic weakness and export strength is evident at BYD, the world's largest EV maker. Its sales downturn globally stretched to an eighth month in April despite persistent ⁠strength in overseas shipments. Last month, Morgan Stanley maintained its expectation that China car wholesales would fall two percent this year but raised its export growth estimate to 33 percent from 15 percent. It also expects the decline in domestic sales to deepen to 11 percent from an ⁠earlier projection of six percent. (Reuters) Edited by Tony Sabine