Sales of domestically made automobiles this year are forecast to
reach 3 million units by the end of the year based on robust growth
during the first five months.
Jia Xinguang, chief analyst from the China Automotive Industry
Consulting and Development Corp, said sales this year are expected
to rise to 3 million from 2.36 million units last year "as long as
the strong growth momentum can be maintained."
According to statistics released Sunday by the China Association of
Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), automakers in China sold 1.28
million units during the first five months of this year, an
increase of 27.03 percent from a year earlier.
"Sales will continue to increase rapidly during the remainder of
this year thanks to new product launches and manufacturers' price
cuts driven by China's tariff decreases since its entry into the
World Trade Organization (WTO)," Jia said.
Statistics show sales in May alone increased by 46.09 percent
year-on-year to 294,000 units.
But May sales declined by 13.41 percent compared with April of this
year, said Zhu Yiping, an official of CAAM.
Zhu attributed the decline largely to the week-long Labor Day
holiday.
"Sales growth during the June-August period this year will remain
slow because these months are not a booming season for the vehicle
market according to the experience over the past 10 years," Jia
said.
However, sales will recover and grow quickly in September, he
predicted.
Qie Xiaogang, an official from the Beijing Asian Games Village
Automobile Exchange, made a more optimistic forecast for total
sales this year.
"Total sales will exceed 3.1 million units this year in line with
the current market development," Qie said.
During the first five months this year, 4,476 vehicles were sold at
Qie's exchange, one of the largest in Beijing.
"You could see consumers' fever during the Beijing auto show, and
many of them will buy cars soon," he said.
The Seventh Beijing International Auto Show, which ended last
Thursday, attracted 410,000 visitors. During the eight-day event,
automakers received orders for nearly 10,000 vehicles.
Shanghai GM, a joint venture between Shanghai Automotive Industry
Corp and the world's No 1 automaker General Motors, said it
received orders for more than 1,100 Buick sedans during the auto
show.
Local automakers also launched a slew of new products during the
auto show, including the Elysee of Dongfeng Citroen Automobile Co,
the 1.6-litre Bora of First Automotive Works' Volkswagen, and the
Sunroof Buick Sail of Shanghai GM.
According to CAAM, sales of passenger cars during the first five
months of this year reached 375,500 units, up 33.14 percent from
the same period last year.
In
May, passenger car sales increased by 43.58 percent year-on-year to
80,900 units.
Automakers in China produced 1.29 million units from January to May
this year, an increase of 30.37 percent from a year earlier.
At
the beginning of this year, China cut its tariffs on auto imports
from 70-80 percent to 43.8-50.7 percent.
Under WTO obligations, the tariffs will be reduced to 25 percent by
mid-2006.
(China Daily June 17,
2002)