News Room - Business/Economics

Posted on 10 Jul 2009

Stimulus boosts China car sales 47.7pc in June

China’s passenger car sales in June rose 47.7 per cent from a year earlier as government stimulus measures boosted consumption, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Thursday.

 

Growth in China’s vehicle market, now the world’s largest, slowed in 2008 to its lowest annual rate in more than a decade as the global financial crisis took its toll.

 

Demand has rebounded since February, helped by government supportive measures, including halving the sales tax on small cars and subsidies for buyers in rural areas.

 

A total of 872,900 cars were sold last month, said the association. The figures compare to the previously reported 588,400 units sold a year earlier, and the 829,100 units in May.

 

The association said total vehicle sales for 2009 would exceed 11 million units, compared with a forecast of 10.2 million units made earlier this year.

 

“It is hard to say exactly how long the boom will last, but double-digit growth in overall car sales this year is certainly achievable,” said Chen Qiaoning, an industry analyst with ABN AMRO TEDA Fund Management.

 

The association did not provide the revised sales figures for the previous month or year earlier figures.

 

Overall vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, rose 36.5 per cent in June from a year earlier to 1.14 million units, the association said, compared with a 34.02 per cent gain in May.

 

General Motors, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier in the month, saw its China vehicle sales rise 38 per cent to an all-time record of 814,442 units in the first half, helped by its Wuling brand minivans and trucks made at its venture with SAIC Motor Corp.

 

GM’s China chief Kevin Wale told Reuters on Wednesday he expected China vehicle sales to rise more than 20 per cent this year.