Gasgoo.com (Shanghai May 10) - Over 1.84 million automobiles were sold in China in the month of April, Shanghai Securities News reported today, citing statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers earlier this week. The number is 9.5 percent less than the previous month's figure, and represents positive year-on-year growth of 13.38 percent. A total of 7.26 million automobiles have been sold over the first four months of the year, equivalent to year-on-year growth of 13.23 percent.
1.44 million passenger automobiles were sold in April, while 1.49 million were manufactured in the month. Although lower than March's numbers, the two figures represent year-on-year growth of 13 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively. In particular, sales in the SUV segment increased rapidly. Domestic own brands' combined share in the passenger automobile market was 39.6 percent in April, decreasing 3.8 percent from the previous month and 1.1 percent from the previous year. Their combined sales volume fell 9.9 percent from April 2012 to April 2013.
Meanwhile, in the commercial vehicle segment, a total of 400,300 vehicles were sold last month, 14.9 percent higher than last April's figure.
Export sales were one of the key contributors to automobile sales this year. According to CAAM statistics, 316,000 vehicles have been exported from January to April, representing year-on-year growth of 12.7 percent.
According to China Passenger Car Association Deputy Secretary Cui Dongshu, the high growth rates the Chinese automobile market witnessed at the beginning of the year are beginning to slow down. In particular, consumer demand for imported luxury vehicles and economy-class cars suffered a noticeable fall last month. Furthermore, various factors, including recently released and upcoming government policies, make it difficult to accurately predict how growth in the market will be this year.
