China’s Auto Sales Fall in November for Fifth Month

GM cars produced by SAIC Motor Corp waiting to be exported to the US at a port in Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province, China, on May 26, 2018. AFP/Getty Images

BEIJING—A painful contraction in China’s auto market deepened in November as sales fell for a fifth month amid an economic slowdown and consumer anxiety over a tariff fight with Washington.

Sales of SUVs, sedans and minivans in the global industry’s biggest market plunged 16 percent from a year ago to just under 2.2 million, an industry group, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, reported on Dec. 11.