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July 8, 2011

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Home » Business » Auto

Car sales shift into gear with 3.5% rise

CHINA'S passenger car sales rebounded in June due to the recovery of Japanese car makers, but analysts cautioned that overall market sentiment remained weak.

Car makers sold 1.02 million vehicles last month, an increase of 3.5 percent from a year earlier, the China Passenger Car Association said yesterday.

The rise compared to a 0.3 percent gain in May and a 1.3 percent increase in April.

Rao Da, secretary general of the association, attributed the gain to the rapid recovery of Japanese car makers, especially Toyota and Nissan, after the devastating earthquake and tsunami halted production at factories in Japan earlier this year.

Japanese auto makers boosted wholesales by 30 percent in May and retail sales gained 19 percent, according to the association.

Rao also said sales growth was due to car makers pushing dealers to increase inventories.

Most car makers reported slower sales growth this year after the government phased out incentives on fuel-efficient vehicles and some cities restricted car license plates to address traffic congestion.

"Weak market demand has still not improved," Rao said. "Some auto makers had a decline in sales in June on a monthly basis."

Last month, sales of sedans gained 10 percent year on year while multi-purpose vehicles climbed 20 percent and sport utility vehicles rose 8 percent, according to the association. Sales of minivans declined 24 percent in June year on year. It was the only segment to post a drop.

From January to June passenger car sales totaled 6.64 million units, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier.

General Motors said its first-half sales gained 5.3 percent to a record 1.27 million units as June sales climbed 10 percent year on year. Ford's sales rose 11 percent year on year in June to 44,442 units.

China's largest auto group SAIC posted a 13 percent sales rise on year to 2 million units in the first half.




 

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