Shanghai, April 27 (Gasgoo.com) Beijing dealers of Toyota and Honda vehicles say they need more sport-utility vehicles to meet demand, while hybrid models are selling at a loss, Bloomberg reported today.
Customers at a Honda dealership in the capital city's Chaoyang district wait two months for a CR-V SUV, enabling the outlet to charge a premium for the model, while customers won't buy the Civic hybrid unless its 270,000 yuan ($39,550) sticker price is lowered.
The Beijing Zhongye Toyota dealership has only two RAV4 SUVs left in stock and urgently needs more, general manager Chen Guang Jun said, adding that buyers of the vehicles haven't complained about Toyota's February recall of the model in China to fix faulty gas pedals.
At the ongoing 2010 Beijing Auto Show, executives of Toyota and Honda said they aren't concerned that their China sales growth will slow down if the tax cut is phased out at the end of this year. Larger models that don't qualify for government tax breaks are selling well in China.
Honda's factory in Wuhan, central China, is running on overtime to produce 1,013 CR-Vs a day due to high demand for the SUV model, said a deputy president of the carmaker's joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group.
Last year in China, Toyota sold only 271 units of its 259,800-yuan Prius, the world's top-selling hybrid vehicle, while Honda sold only 193 units of its hybrid Civic, a model imported from Japan with a 25% tariff.
