China's car sales fell 14.6 percent year-on-year in April

Economy and stock exchange

Car sales in China, the world's largest car market, fell 14.6 percent in April from a year earlier to a 10-month decline, the federation said. Sales fell to 1.98 million cars, the Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.

This followed a 5.2% drop in March and 14% in February, as well as the first annual contraction since the 1990s last year as economic growth and the US trade war slowed.

Car makers are cutting prices in China, some of the government has introduced tax cuts to stimulate consumer spending, but the union said sales of new energy vehicles remained the bright spot, rising 18.1 percent in April to 97,000.

Sales of this type of car increased nearly 62 percent last year despite the contraction of the auto market in general.