PEKING (dpa-AFX) - Wholesale vehicle sales in the world's largest auto market China fell again in December. At 2.56 million units, manufacturers delivered about 8.4 percent fewer to dealers than in the same month last year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said Thursday in Beijing. For the year, however, sales rose by about 2.1 percent, according to CAAM. China is the world's largest car market and as such also the most important single market for German manufacturers Volkswagen (including Audi and Porsche < DE000PAG9113 >), BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Vehicles with alternative drive systems such as electric vehicles play a special role here. While wholesale sales here rose by almost 52 percent to 814,000 units in December, the figure almost doubled over the year. Unlike the industry association PCA, the manufacturers' association CAAM also includes commercial vehicles in its data and measures sales by producers to dealers. PCA data for December had shown a slight 2.4 percent increase in sales to end customers.

For the new year, as previously announced, the CAAM is projecting a slight increase in sales. Thus, at 27.6 million passenger cars, around three percent more vehicles are to be handed over to dealers in 2023 than in the previous year, according to December data./ngu/mis/tih