China car sales in March may grow 40% -analysts

Shanghai, April 1 (Gasgoo.com) As the world's largest auto market, China may post solid sales of passenger cars in March, but growth could slow down in the second quarter as momentum eases from last year's surge, Reuters reported today.

March sales of passenger cars, including sedans, SUVs and MPVs are expected to rise by 30-40%, according to analysts surveyed by Reuters. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) will report monthly sales next week.

However, such an increase, solid as it is, would mark a slowdown from the combined 67% growth of the first two months, during which sales rebounded strongly from the depressed sales of one year ago hit by the global economic crisis.

China's passenger car sales in February rose 55.3% from a year earlier to 942,900 units, after January sales surged 115.5% to 1.32 million cars, according to the CAAM data. Sales in March 2009 rose 10.26% to 772,400 cars units.

Last year, China overtook the U.S. as the world's largest auto market, with sales rising 46% to 13.6 million units, boosted by government incentives, such as sales tax cuts for small cars and trade-in subsidies for clean vehicles.

Car sales in China will likely return to a slower but more rational growth rate of 10 to 15% for the full year of 2010, the analysts added.