On September 8, CPCA released data on the production and sales of passenger cars in August. The data showed that the output of narrow-defined passenger cars (sedan+MPV+SUV) in August was 1.644 million units, down 0.2% from a year earlier. Retail sales of cars were 1.703 million units, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year. Wholesale sales of cars were 1.736 million units, an increase of 7.0% year-on-year. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of CPCA, pointed out that the decline in the output of narrowly-defined passenger cars in August was mainly due to prudent marketing measures taken by mainstream auto companies in response to the current market situation, stabilizing market expectations by reducing production and easing the pressure on dealers' inventories. Meanwhile, retail and wholesale sales in the passenger car market were strong in August, with retail sales in particular achieved their strongest performance since May 2018. In the first eight months of this year, the cumulative growth rate of retail sales of narrowly-defined passenger cars was -15.2%, 3.3 percentage points higher than the cumulative growth rate in the first seven months of this year. Retail sales have improved significantly. As mainstream auto companies took the initiative to slow down the pace of production and sales and adjust dealer inventories in August, manufacturers' inventories had been reduced by 100,000 units and channel inventories by 16,000 units by the end of August. CPCA noted that the channel inventory of passenger cars decreased by a relative 100,000 units in August, while dealer inventory continued to be slightly replenished from April to August. In addition, data from CPCA showed that the wholesale volume of new energy passenger cars in August exceeded 100,000 units, with a year-on-year growth of 43.7% and a month-on-month growth of 23.9%. The market for new energy vehicles showed a recovery once again. CPCA believes that the passenger car market will largely continue its August growth in September with another sales boom.