China's car sales extend decline in November in biggest drop in 10 months

BEIJING, Dec 8 (Reuters) - China's annual car sales dropped 8.5% in November in a second straight monthly decline, for their biggest fall in 10 months, data showed on Monday, amid a waning scramble to buy vehicles before government subsidies dwindle at year-end.

Car sales in the world's biggest auto market stood at 2.24 million last month, following October's slide of 0.8%, according to the data from the China Passenger Car Association.

The deeper slide was "abnormal," as sales have generally been quite strong in the years' final two months, said Cui Dongshu, the industry body's secretary-general, but evoked conditions 17 years ago.

"A similar abnormality occurred in 2008 when consumption was under pressure," he added.

Sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids made up a record 58.9% of total car sales. Subsidised auto trade-ins in favour of EVs and PHEVs exceeded 11.2 million units in the first 11 months, official data showed.

Reduced government subsidies near the end of the year are seen denting consumer sentiment nationwide.

Additionally, a big fall in gasoline car sales and a high base last year were attributed to the fall in overall sales last month, according to Cui, expecting full-year sales to grow by 5%.

Car sales are forecast to be largely flat in 2026 when competition in China becomes even stiffer, with "a possible all-time high number of new models", CMBI analysts said in a note.

To spur sales before purchase-tax breaks for EVs and PHEVs halve from 2026, many automakers have also rolled out subsidies of up to 15,000 yuan ($2,120) for orders before year-end which may not get delivered until next year.

As woes over overcapacity and excessive competition mount, Beijing has dropped EVs from a list of strategic industries in a roadmap for the next five years, signalling perhaps a more challenging time ahead.

Entangled in a battle in the budget segment with rivals such as Geely and Leapmotor whose sales kept hitting new highs, domestic EV giant BYD ended November with lower sales than the year before.

It was BYD's third month of declining sales globally, despite record overseas shipments last month. It has achieved 91% of a trimmed sales target for this year.

Tesla's sales in China rose to 73,145 units last month after October's fall to a three-year low of 26,006.

Its aggressive new rival Xiaomi delivered more than 40,000 EVs for a third consecutive month, having already met an annual sales target of 350,000 vehicles.

Overall car export growth soared to 52.4% from 27.7% in October.

The majority of China's car export growth is expected to come from EVs and PHEVs next year, their exports rising 40% from this year to a projected 2.83 million vehicles, CMBI estimates.

($1=7.0705 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)