Growth in China passenger car sales slows in April

Growth in China's passenger car sales slowed to 34 percent in April as a yearlong surge in demand began to falter, a private research group reported Monday.

Sales had jumped 63 percent in March from a year earlier.

The 1.11 million cars sold in April was down 12 percent from the 1.26 million sold in March, said the China Passenger Car Association, a Shanghai-based research institute.

Feeble sales in the United States and a surge in car buying by newly affluent Chinese helped make China the world's largest auto market last year, when total sales jumped 45 percent over 2008 to 13.6 million vehicles.

Demand slumped in late 2008 but rebounded in the first half of 2009. While American car sales are recovering, they cannot keep up with the growth in China, where many families are still buying their first cars.

U.S. sales rose 20 percent over a year earlier in April, with most major automakers posting double-digit gains, according to AutoData Corp. But sales slipped 8 percent from March, when Toyota launched record-high incentives after a spate of safety recalls.

China's auto industry does not release comparable monthly sales data adjusted for annual rates.

The slowing in demand was expected after the shift into overdrive last year, and total sales growth for the year is expected between 15 percent and 17 percent, according to most industry experts.

While sales of mini-vehicles remain strong, the impact of subsidies aimed at boosting demand for energy-efficient small cars and vans has begun to wane.

In some cases, mid-range vehicles remain in short supply.

Automakers anticipated that last year's "blowout" was out of the ordinary, said the state-run newspaper Global Times in an article Monday.