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China passenger car sales in first fall for more than three years
Shanghai (AFP) Sept 9, 2008 China's passenger car sales fell last month from a year earlier, an industry group said Tuesday, the first monthly drop since early 2005 as the economy slowed and the Olympics deterred car purchases. Sales of the cars, including sedans, multi-purpose vehicles and sports utility vehicles, fell 6.24 percent year on year for August to 451,300 units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. The sales were also down 7.56 percent from July, the association said in a statement on its website. The last tine monthly sales fell was in February 2005, when the figure dropped 22.8 percent to 213,500 units, mainly due to the seasonal impact of the Lunar New Year holiday. The decline in August was mainly attributed to a brief closedown of factories due to the Olympic Games, but market growth is likely to continue to slow down in coming years, analysts said. "The market could keep a growth rate of 13-14 percent this year thanks to year-end promotions and the launch of more new models in the fourth quarter," said John Zeng, a Shanghai-based analyst at consulting firm Global Insight. "But the era of single-digit growth is coming closer and closer to us and that could happen in the next two or three years," he said. China's passenger vehicle sales rose 13.15 percent to 4.55 million units in the first eight months of the year, compared with an annual growth of 21.68 percent to 6.30 million units in all of 2007. Rao Da, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, said the slower growth rate reflected the slowdown in the overall economy. China's economy expanded 10.1 percent in the second quarter compared with 11.9 percent in the whole of 2007. "In the global auto industry, annual sales growth of 10 to 15 percent is still very fast," Rao said. He added that the slump in China's stock market, which has fallen about 65 percent from a historic high last October, and expectations of further increases in fuel costs also weakened purchasing power. China raised gasoline and diesel prices by nearly 20 percent in late June to close the gap between state-set domestic prices and the soaring world oil market. Related Links Car Technology at SpaceMart.com
Alternative Fuels Drive Change for America's Fleets
Las Vegas NV (SPX) Sep 09, 2008NV-Annalloyd Thomason, Executive Director of Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute (AFVi), is the featured keynote speaker for the 2008 Rocky Mountain Fleet Management Association (RMFMA) Conference and Equipment Show. The 2008 Conference theme is "Fleets Collaborating to Enhance Sustainability." |
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