Gasgoo.com (Shanghai November 18) - A total of 18.98 million automobiles have been sold over the first ten months of this year, Beijing Business Today reported today, citing statistics from the China Passenger Car Association. The figure represents year-on-year growth of 6.58 percent. Meanwhile, 1.93 million automobiles were produced over the same time period, representing year-on-year growth of 7.93 percent.
The sales growth rate has been diminishing gradually over the past few months. Previous predictions pegged year-on-year growth for this year to be 8.3 percent; however, it is increasingly looking unlikely. According to CPCA Deputy Secretary General Dong Yang, with only two months left, it is essentially impossible for the market growth rate to reach the 8.3 percent goal. Mr. Dong expects this year's final sales growth rate to be around 7 percent.
According to CPCA statistics, total October automobile production and sales volumes totaled 2.04 million units and 1.98 million units, respectively. The two figures signified year-on-year growth of 6.69 percent and 2.82 percent, respectively.
Mr. Dong also pointed out that the sales growth rate for the latter half of a 2013 were higher than those of earlier months that year. However, that trend hasn't continued into this year. CPCA statistics show that sales growth rates have actually decreased over the course of the year, from 10.7 percent at the beginning of the year down to 6.58 percent last month.
Passenger automobile sales accounted for the vast majority of sales, with a total of 1.59 million units manufactured and sold over the first ten months of the year. Sales growth for passenger automobile is nearly ten percent. By comparison, production and sales volumes of commercial vehicles have fallen 6.3 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively.
