China’s auto sales shrink in April
Print Edition
CHINA’S auto sales fell in April by the steepest in almost two years, the automakers’ association said yesterday, as a tax increase on small-engine cars from the beginning of the year discouraged buyers.
Vehicle sales in China, the world’s largest auto market, fell 2.2 percent to 2.1 million in April, compared with a 4 percent rise in March, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed. The drop was the sharpest since sales fell 5 percent in August 2015, data showed.
In the first four months of the year, sales grew 4 percent, slower than the 5 percent increase forecast by the association for all of 2017.
“Demand was weak, and this caused stock piles in April,” said Chen Shihua, a CAAM spokesman.
The purchase tax for cars with engines of 1.6-liter capacity or below climbed to 7.5 percent this year from 5 percent in 2016 after the government stepped in to stimulate slumping sales. The tax will rise to the normal 10 percent rate next year.
Industry executives and analysts had warned that the tax would hurt sales in early 2017.
Analysts forecast the market will grow by mid-single digits this year, down from 15 percent in 2016.
Some 24.4 million vehicles were sold in China last year, more than any other country, making it the most important market for global automakers. However, this year’s slowing growth does not bode well for the industry.
CAAM said the sport-utility vehicle segment was the only one that grew, with sales rising 11.1 percent from a year ago to 684,400.
SUVs are popular with Chinese families who see them as safer, and their sales help automakers offset falling demand for sedans, which fell 7.7 percent last month, and minivans, which shrank 20 percent.
Sales of Chinese-brand vehicles fell 1.9 percent to 733,000.
China targets sales of 35 million vehicles a year by 2025 and new-energy vehicles to make up at least one fifth of that total.
General Motors Co said sales of GM-brand vehicles by the company and its Chinese partners slipped 1.9 percent in April from a year earlier to 272,770. Deliveries of SUVs, minivans and luxury cars rose 14 percent.
Ford Motor Co said sales grew 11 percent to almost 94,000, with sales of its luxury Lincoln brand nearly doubling to 4,500.
Nissan’s sales rose 9.5 percent to 105,324 vehicles.
Toyota’s sales grew 7.2 percent to 108,300 in China.
BMW’s sales, including Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, jumped 12.4 percent to 142,958.
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