Nation becomes world's 2nd largest auto market (Shenzhen Daily/Agencies) Updated: 2006-01-16 08:48
More vehicles were sold in China last year than in Japan, making China the
world’s second-largest auto market after the United States with almost 6 million
units sold, the People's Daily said Friday.
But if imports of 160,000 cars were excluded, China was still No. 3, the
paper said.
Domestic vehicle sales last year rose 14 percent from 2004 to 5.8 million
units, the newspaper said, referring only to China-made products. Sales this
year of vehicles are expected to grow 10 to 15 percent to 6.4 to 6.6 million
units, the report said, citing figures from the China Association of Automobile
Manufacturers.
But sales of passenger vehicles, including sedans and sport utility vehicles,
jumped 21 percent to nearly 4 million units, the newspaper said, bouncing back
from a relatively lackluster rise of 15 percent in 2004. In 2003, sales almost
doubled.
Car sales had been slowing, due in part to the government’s crackdown on easy
auto credit to help cool an overheating Chinese economy.
The stronger performance in 2005 was partly due to healthy sales in secondary
markets in poorer inland provinces, the paper said, quoting an official at the
auto association.
China has turned into a booming market for automakers stuggling under
discounting in saturated mature markets like Europe and the United States.
Earlier this month, General Motors Corp. announced a 35 percent rise in China
sales to 665,390 vehicles in 2005, exceeding the combined 564,300 units sold by
Volkswagen AG’s two Chinese joint ventures.
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