PASSENGER car sales in China dropped in November but sales of new-energy vehicles in the countryin November jumped 18 percent from a month ago, according to data the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said Wednesday. The association said that passenger car sales in November reached 1.85 million, down 12.5 percent from a year earlier. The figure includes sedans, sports-utility vehicles and multipurpose vehicles and minivans. But deliveries of new-energy vehicles, which include electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, increased 121 percent from a year earlier to 378,000 units, up from October’s 321,000 units. For the first 11 months of 2021, new-energy vehicle retail sales in China reached 2.81 million units, putting automakers in the world’s second-biggest economy within reach of a predicted 3 million units this year. BYD Co. put in a particularly strong showing, with its total November sales about equal to that of Tesla Inc., Nio Inc., Li Auto Inc. and Xpeng Inc. combined. “New-energy vehicle sales have been super strong,” said Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the CPCA. “The penetration of electric vehicles is no longer counting on government subsidies but rather on market demand.” Tesla sold 52,859 China-made vehicles in November, including 21,127 for export. Tesla sold 54,391 China-made vehicles in October. (SD-Agencies) | 