Even before the preferential policy was officially cancelled, Chinese car buyers have been rushing to snap up cars with smaller engines.
In China's eastern city of Nanjing, buyers flooded car dealerships to buy small-engine cars, amid expectations the preferential tax policy would not be extended.
Zhou Kaishun, one salesman said "The sales are good, or even crazy, I would say. We have run out of stock. Now it takes at least a month or two before the customer can collect their pre-ordered car."
The buying bonanza isn't just keeping car dealers busy. Local tax authorities are dealing with more than the usual numbers of car owners, who've come to pay purchase taxes.
Jian Yun, new car buyer said "It's been said the preferential tax might be canceled, so we want to buy a car before that. It will save me thousands of yuan, at least."
According to Nanjing tax authorities, December has seen a record high for new cars levied with the vehicle purchase tax. And nearly 170 million yuan worth of purchase tax was collected in the first 20 days of the month.
