Shanghai December 24 (Gasgoo.com) In an attempt to ease traffic jams, the Beijing municipal government will limit the issuance of new car and microvan license plates in the city to 240,000 in 2011 - a little more than one-third of this year's total.
Following that most dealers predicted the measure will severely impact China's auto market, reckoning that new car sales in the city will decline at least one third next year, and 50 to 80 dealers among the current 400 are expected to be eliminated, china.com.cn reported.
Car sales in Beijing will exceed 800,000 units this year. "If the license plates are issued to merely 240,000 vehicles next year, plus the about 200,000 license plates retained by second-hand dealers, more than 400,000 new cars will then be allowed to be registered next year. That figure is not too bad for us," said a person in charge at a Shanghai Volkswagen dealership.
"Many newly built dealerships have very limited inventories and mainly gain profits from new car sales, and thus have vulnerable anti-risk capability," said a sales director at a Dongfeng Nissan dealership.
In fact, Dongfeng Nissan, Guangzhou Honda and other car manufacturers have started negotiations with their dealers concerning the situation, according to china.com.cn
