China's auto sales, output jump in January

BEIJING - China's auto sales and output both accelerated in January due to stronger demand, latest data showed on Thursday, while analysts predicted the car industry will be shaken up by a national plan to upgrade fuel quality.

China's auto sales jumped 46.38 percent year on year to a record monthly high of 2.03 million units in January, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in press releases on its website.

Auto output also hit a new high last month, surging 51.17 percent year on year to 1.96 million units, the CAAM said.H   The rates were much higher than those of December and the year 2012, when both sales and output posted only single-digit growth year on year.

The potential of the country's auto market was further unleashed, with markedly higher demand for passenger cars, according to the CAAM.

A record high of 1.73 million passenger vehicles were sold in January, up 48.68 percent from a year earlier, CAAM figures showed.

Meanwhile, passenger car output soared 53.88 percent year on year to 1.62 million units.

The association said the fact that January of this year had five more working days than the same month of 2012 also contributed to the fast expansion.

China remained the world's largest producer and market for automobiles for the fourth consecutive year in 2012, with both sales and output exceeding 19 million units.

However, millions of new cars hitting the road each year also contributed to air pollution in a country where fuel quality needs to be improved.

The State Council, or China's cabinet, on Wednesday announced a stricter standard for auto fuel will be promoted nationwide before 2017.

The move will help accelerate the enhancing of auto emission standards and reshuffle the industry by forcing out small producers that are technically and financially unprepared for the upgrading, said Cao He, an auto analyst with China Minzu Securities.

It will also drive fuel prices up and boost the market for fuel-saving and new energy cars, according to Cao.

China overtook the United States to become the world's largest auto maker and auto market in 2009.

The country's foreign trade in automobiles and parts and components rose 6.71 percent in 2012 from a year earlier to 152.67 billion U.S. dollars, slowing by 25.12 percentage points compared with 2011, the CAAM said Thursday, citing its compilation of customs figures.

Some 1.13 million vehicles were imported in 2012, with that figure up 9 percent year on year, but the growth rate down 18.69 percentage points from 2011.