Beijing '08 auto sales up 12% to 490,000 units

Shanghai, January 19 (Gasgoo.com) In 2008, there were 490,000 new vehicles sold in Beijing, up 12% year on year, while the China market as a whole had 9,380,500 vehicles sold, up 6.7% y/y, said xinhuanet.com today. Auto sales in the capital city are expected to reach 480,000 units, according to an industry executive.

The sales of 490,000 new vehicles, with nearly 30,000 of them as imported ones, in Beijing are high above the national auto sales growth average last year. Although the sales volume increased, the profits of most auto dealers had dropped, with 40% of them making losses in 2008, including dealers of many mainstream joint venture brands.

However, in some coastal cities in Zhejiang province and southern city of Shenzhen, 70%-80% auto dealers lost money last year, mainly because of the auto market slump and resultant price competition.

After a few months of downturn, Beijing's auto market began to recover at the end of 2008. Last Saturday, the Yayuncun (Asia Games Village) auto trading market in Beijing sold more than 100 vehicles in a single day. This indicates that capital city's auto market still has its big potential consumer base.

The Chinese government has recently launched a series of incentives to boost the auto market, including cuts in small-car purchase taxes, multi-billion yuan subsidies for replacing high-emission old vehicles for cleaner new ones.

These favorable policies will ensure that about 480,000 new vehicles can be sold in Beijing this year to near the level of 2008, said Su Hui, general manager of the Yayuncun auto trading market.