Passenger automobile sales in China fall in July

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai August 9) - Statistics from the China Passenger Car Association earlier this week revealed that 1.04 million passenger automobiles were sold in China last month, the National Business Daily reported today. Although the figure is eight percent than the amount sold in July 2011, it represents a fall of 9.6 percent from June. Sedans, minivans and SUVs accounted for 910,200 of all passenger automobiles sold in the month, just slightly more than the 899,200 units sold this February.

FAW-VW led the passenger automobile sales chart for another month, with a total of 115,500 vehicles sold. It was followed by Shanghai GM (104,200 sales), Shanghai VW (94,100), Dongfeng Nissan (70,100) and Beijing Hyundai (64,000).

CPCA General Secretary Rao Da attributes the fall in sales from June to July on a few factors. Chief among them is the decision to limit automobile purchases in Guangzhou, which saw a mass of sales in June, in turn leading to a fall in demand the following month. Mr. Rao also points out that several manufacturers inflated their June sales figures in order to satisfy quarterly sales results, a discrepancy that was resolved by deducting sales from the following month. Finally, he notes that blisteringly high temperatures this summer played a part in keeping sales down.

Despite the drop in sales, inventory levels for automobile dealerships decreased slightly over the month. According to Wang Hongchang, an analyst with the China Automobile Dealers Association, there is hope that the already high inventory levels will further decrease over the next few months. In an interview, representatives from Ways Consulting added that the Guangzhou policy succeeded in reducing inventories for dealerships in the city, whose inventory levels are for the first time below the national average.