China auto sales growth slows

AP

China's auto sales slowed further in September as a boom fuelled by tax breaks and subsidies faded.

Official figures for the month, delayed by a weeklong national holiday, showed total sales rising 17 per cent from a year earlier to 1.56 million vehicles, down from 18 per cent in August, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported on Tuesday.

Sales rose 16 per cent in July and 21 per cent in June, but have generally slowed since spring.

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Passenger car sales rose 19.3 per cent to 1.2 million vehicles, the group said on its website.

"Growth in China's auto market seems to be back to normal after the boom," said Wei Chenggang, an analyst at Shanghai Securities, in Shanghai, forecasting further slowing in months to come.

"This might be bad for automakers in the short term, but is definitely better for the sustainable development of the industry," he said.

China became the world's largest auto market in 2009 when sales surged 45 per cent to 13.6 million vehicles.

Analysts are forecasting that sales may climb roughly 30 per cent to about 17 million vehicles for the year, providing a respite for automakers still fighting flat or weakening sales in the US and other more mature markets.

In January-September, China's total vehicle sales rose 36 per cent to 13.1 million units, while passenger car sales climbed 37 per cent, to 9.9 million vehicles, after rising nearly 40 per cent in the first eight months of the year, the industry group reported.

Figures from several foreign and domestic automakers also showed growth in sales easing.

GM said its sales rose 15 per cent to 208,353 vehicles in September, slowing from 19 per cent in August and 22 per cent in July. GM's total sales in China climbed 37.4 per cent in January to September from a year earlier, to a record 1.78 million vehicles, the company said.

Back in the US GM's sales slipped slightly in September from August as shoppers wary of spending on big ticket items steered clear of showrooms. They were up 10.5 per cent from a year earlier, when sales slumped following the end of the Cash for Clunkers program.

Ford Motor China said its sales rose 26 per cent in September from a year earlier, to 50,970 vehicles, up slightly from a 24 per cent increase the month before. Sales in the first nine months of the year were up 40 per cent at 419,073 units.

Japan's Honda Motor saw sales inch up three per cent in September from a year earlier, while sales for the year climbed a modest 16 per cent.

GM partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, or SAIC, said sales of their Shanghai GM joint venture surged 41 per cent year-on-year, while SAIC's overall sales grew 23 per cent in September, up from 22 per cent in August.

SAIC VW, its venture with Germany's Volkswagen AG, saw sales climb 36 per cent. Volkswagen, which did not report separate China sales figures for September, said its January-September sales jumped 39 per cent from the year before to 1.48 million vehicles.

© 2010 AP