Gasgoo.com (Shanghai June 25) - Chinese imported a total of 117,000 automobiles in May, Autoweekly reported today. The statistics was confirmed by Wang Cun, head of China Automobile Trading's marketing and sales division, at a summit held in Beijing earlier this month. The latest import figure, which is a new monthly record, is 62 percent higher than that of last May's.
Passenger automobiles made up the majority of vehicles, 114,800 units, imported last month. A total of 489,500 vehicles have been imported from January to May, 27.6 percent more than the amount imported in the first five months of 2011.
SUVs remained the most imported vehicle type in May. A total of 61,100 SUVs were imported, constituting 53.2 percent of the total figure. They were followed closely by sedan imports, which totaled 48,200 units. Year-on-year growth rates for both segments totaled 65.7 percent and 35.4 percent, respectively. However, it was minivan imports that increased the most. Although the 5,500 minivans sold made up only 4.8 percent of all imports last month, the amount was a full 74.4 percent more than that imported in last May.
Of the 479,000 passenger automobiles imported from January to May, sedan imports had the highest year-on-year growth rate, 38.3 percent. Year-on-year growth rates for minivans and SUVs for the five month period totaled 30.9 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively.
