September’s China vehicle market marked the 15^th consecutive monthly decline in China, the world’s largest and it’s a growing concern for the global automotive sector, said GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

China’s vehicle market in September fell 5.2% from the same month a year earlier to 2.27 million vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). There is little respite in prospect. GlobalData forecasts that the Chinese light vehicle market in 2019 will dip again, after 2018’s slip, to around 25 million units (28 million in 2018), which will be only the second year of annual decline since 1990.

The decline this year mainly reflects slowing economic growth in China and deteriorating domestic sentiment as trade relations with the US continue a volatile and uncertain path. In addition, China’s vehicle market this year has also been disrupted by new emissions regulations and by the long-term switch to new energy vehicles through sales quotas. Subsidies for electrified vehicles have also been cut, slashing growth in what has been a buoyant part of the car market.

—David Leggett, Automotive Editor at GlobalData