China auto price slightly up in Sept, to steady in Q4

Shanghai, October 16 (Gasgoo.com) Most car prices in the China market rose slightly in September. Both Chinese-made and imported vehicles sold at higher prices than one month and one year earlier, said auto.sina.com.cn today. The price is likely to get stable in the fourth quarter.

According to a survey conducted in 36 Chinese cities by an industry price monitoring center, the price of China-made vehicles grew last month by 0.74% on average over August and 0.59% over one year earlier. Of them, passenger vehicles had their prices up 0.54% month on month (m/m), but down 0.27% year on year (y/y).

The sales tax hike on big cars and the rising costs are believed to be the two factors that had driven the car price up. For the same reason, the imported cars, especially those of high emissions, sold at a much higher price in September, up 6.21% m/m and 7.51% y/y. This has pushed up the vehicle prices in general.

Industry experts said that many negative factors have influenced the auto market this year to date but the price is expected to become stable in the fourth quarter. The declining demands would increase the fund pressure for some car makers and dealers, and therefore make them cautious about marking up their products. 

According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, passenger vehicle sales totaled 552,800 units in September, compared with 434,271 units in August and 488,200 units in July. However, the September PV sales still fell 1.44%, against the 5.4% in August, from one year earlier.