Strong local demand and a drop in prices have pushed China's
vehicle imports during the first eight months of the year past the
total 2001 figure.
The nation imported around 80,900 vehicles during the first eight
months, up from 72,000 units last year, according to statistics
released yesterday by the China Trading Center for Automobile
Imports.
Vehicle imports in August alone reached 13,900 units, statistics
showed.
"The vehicle import growth mainly resulted from strong domestic
demand and price declines thanks to the nation's tariff cuts," said
Ding Hongxiang, the center's deputy general manager.
China, which became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
at the end of last year, cut its tariffs on vehicle imports from
between 70 and 80 percent to between 43.8 and 50.7 percent at the
beginning of the year.
Ding predicted vehicle imports will continue to grow during the
remainder of 2002.
However, the growth of imports does not appear to have greatly
affected domestic manufacturers, which are selling their vehicles
well, especially passenger cars.
Total sales of domestically made vehicles increased by more than 32
percent year-on-year to over 2 million units from January to
August, according to the China Association of Automobile
Manufacturers.
Sales of domestically made passenger cars reached 680,300 units
during the period, an increase of more than 42 percent from a year
earlier.
"The main reasons for the upbeat sales of domestically made
vehicles are that imports have not surged as many expected earlier
and most local manufacturers have been launching new models to
attract consumers this year," said Jia Xinguang, chief analyst with
the China National Automotive Industry Consulting and Development
Corp.
Vehicle imports were widely forecast by experts to at least double
this year compared to 2001.
But the government has not released as many import licenses as
experts predicted.
There are around 30,000 foreign-made vehicles in the Chinese
mainland's bonded areas because they do not have import
licenses.
Local manufacturers, especially Sino-foreign joint ventures, have
launched dozens of new products, such as the Polo from Shanghai
Volkswagen, the Palio from Nanjing Fiat in East China's Jiangsu
Province and the Elysee from Dongfeng Citroen.
More new products will be on sale later this year, including
Tianjin Toyota's T-1, a Fiesta model from Chang'an Ford and an Opel
model from Shanghai General Motors.
(China
Daily September 30, 2002)