China's top 10 auto industry stories, trends during 2018

Domestic vehicle sales off

Car sales in China are expected to fall for the first time since 1990, after vehicle deliveries fell 13.86 percent year-on-year in November, which marked the fifth consecutive month of decline. Total vehicle sales in the first 11 months of 2018 stood at 25.42 million, a decline of 1.65 percent year-on-year. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers expect whole year sales to fall 3 percent from 2017 and said the situation will not turn better in 2019 due to slowing economic growth and poor confidence in consumption. Sales of new energy vehicles, however, soared to a new high, with their deliveries exceeding 1 million by the end of November.