SHENZHEN, China: China's passenger car sales climbed for the third consecutive month in April, increasing 14.8 percent from a year earlier, as government-subsidized auto trade-ins helped offset the impact of U.S. tariffs on consumer sentiment, data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed.

Passenger vehicle sales reached 1.78 million units last month, bringing the total for the first four months of 2025 to 6.97 million units, an 8.2 percent rise from the same period in 2024.

Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs), including electric cars and plug-in hybrids, surged 33.9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 50.8 percent of total car sales in April. A government program offering higher subsidies for trade-ins of old cars for NEVs than for gasoline vehicles covered 2.71 million cars as of April 24, cushioning the impact of increased U.S. tariffs on Chinese exports.

However, car exports declined 2.2 percent in April, extending an 8 percent drop recorded in March, the CPCA said.

Meanwhile, automated driving systems are losing traction as a sales driver in the domestic market. The shift comes after BYD announced in February it would include its "God's Eye" driver-assistance system as free standard equipment across its lineup.

The appeal of these systems has waned following a fatal crash involving a Xiaomi (1810.HK) SU7 sedan in March. The EV caught fire after hitting a cement pole, seconds after the driver tried to regain control from the car's assisted-driving system, prompting a government crackdown on marketing terms like "smart" and "autonomous" to describe such technology.