Jan-May auto imports are 71% Japanese, German cars

Shanghai, July 17 (Gasgoo.com) China Automobile Trading Co., Ltd. on July 10 released the data of China's imported cars in the first five months of 2008. The auto imports from January to May rose 58.22% from one year earlier to 171,413 units, with 71.15% of them being Japanese and German cars, reported Beijing Times today, citing the data.

The data showed that China imported 65,226 sedans in the five months, up 29.43% year on year, and 11,734 units of them were imported in May. Of the cars imported in the January to May period, 26,992 are 3.0L sedans, accounting for 41.38% of the total imports, and 22,272 of them, or 34.19%, are 1.5-2.5L sedans.

In the five months, the SUV imports increased 91.3%, slower than the 106.81% growth in the first four months, but both the quantity and the growth were the greatest of all the imported vehicle models.

Of all the cars imported to China during the five months, Japanese and German sedans account for 71.15%, with their average import price at $41,700, higher than the average price of $35,800 in 2007.