Vehicle sales to rise by 4% this year

Vehicle sales in China are expected to grow by 4 percent on a yearly basis to 26 million units in 2021, after falling for three years in a row, according to a leading automobile industry association.

Some 25.31 million vehicles were sold last year in China, the world's largest automobile market, down by 1.9 percent from 2019, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The Chinese car market went through a difficult first quarter, when the pandemic forced people to stay away from showrooms across the country. But sales started to recover in April, when the coronavirus came under better control in China.