China 'cash for clunkers' yields 250,000 sales in Jan-Sep

Shanghai October 11 (Gasgoo.com) China granted 3.5 billion yuan ($525 million) of subsidies to replace old vehicles with new vehicles in the first nine months of this year, yielding sales 250,000 units worth 28.6 million yuan, Shanghai Securities News reported, citing the Ministry of Commerce.

In September alone, the Chinese government's "cash for clunkers" program produced 36,000 vehicle sales, up 50% from August. With 510 million yuan spent on subsidies, last month's clunkers sales were seven times higher than the average monthly subsidy in 2009.

In January - September 2010, the number of replaced sedans reached 110,000 units, accounting for 44% of total replaced vehicles, followed by large- and medium-sized passenger buses and light trucks that accounted for 30% and 17% respectively of the total.

The top ten provinces that launched the "old vehicle for new" program, ranked by clunkers sales, are Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Anhui, Sichuan, Henan, Jiangxi, Liaoning and Guangzhou, with combined sales accounting for 73% of total replaced vehicles. Over 40,000 old vehicles were replaced in Jiangsu, east China.