That would have to be the most blatantly biased piece of...

That would have to be the most blatantly biased piece of misleading selective reporting that I have ever seen. It can only be done by a totally incompetent xxx out to push their own agenda to mislead people.

The very next two paragraphs after the first one you quoted say:

Retail sales of passenger NEVs in China totaled 420,000 units in the April 1-21 period, up 20 percent from the same period last year, but down 2 percent from the same period last month, according to data released today by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

So far this year, cumulative retail sales of passenger EVs in China totaled 2.192 million units, up 31 percent from the same period last year.

What kind of business would be unhappy with 20% and 31% increase in sales?

The other three paragraphs you chose to quote talk about all cars, not EVs. So, whilst car sales are down, EV sales are up. Do you have the brains to figure out what that means?

Here is an exercise for you - the article you quoted has all the info. What is the % of NEV sales compared to all vehicles for the april 1-21 for this year and last year?

And please do not make a big deal of the 2% drop in april from the previous month. Note that the article says there were 4 holidays during the 21 days... much more than 2%. So that "sensational" headline is from a reporter too dumb to understand seasonal variations, or trying to be smart and mislead people.

So, what is your real agenda? Can you answer the question above and explain the implications? If not it is best you keep your trap shut.