Chinese automobile sales continue to grow in November

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai December 10) - Following a period of declining sales, the automobile market in China has started to make a recovery in September. That trend has continued into November, when monthly retail sales totaled 1.13 million vehicles, China Securities Daily reported today, citing figures from the China Passenger Car Association. The figure represents year-on-year sales growth of seven percent. Furthermore, sales in the latter part of the month were especially high, hinting at good prospects for December.

According to CPCA statistics, automobile sales were over ten percent higher in the beginning of November than they were in the beginning of October. That figure increased to 20 percent for sales differences between the latter portions of the two months.

The majority of manufacturers reported higher sales in November than they did in October, with Japanese joint venture companies' sales increasing significantly. Retail sales of Japanese branded vehicles grew nearly 50 percent over the two month period, while reported sales grew almost 80 percent. Reported automobile sales of several Japanese JVs over doubled. However, the CPCA pointed out that Japanese vehicle sales are still have not fully recovered, and will take until next year to reach normal levels. Looking at year-on-year statistics, Japanese manufacturers' reported sales are around 30 percent less than they were in 2011.

The recently concluded Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition was cited as one of the major factors contributing to sales increases in November. The CPCA parallels increasing sales over the past few months to the sudden sales increases the market experienced in the latter half of 2011.