China auto sales shrink in April as request cools
Hong Kong — China’s auto sales shrank in April as request for most types of vehicles wilted, an industry group said Thursday.
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said 1.7 million passenger cars were sold in China last month, down Trio.7 percent from the same period a year ago.
That’s down from 1.7 percent sales growth in March.
Total vehicle sales, including buses and trucks, fell Two.Two percent from a year earlier to Two.1 million.
“Car production and sales fell significantly last month,” the association said in a statement. “Automotive market request was powerless.”
Auto request in China has been cooling since Beijing raised a sales tax on small-engine vehicles at the begin of the year, putting off drivers from buying cars. Analysts forecast the market will grow by mid-single digits this year, down from fifteen percent in 2016. For the year to date, auto sales have grown a tepid Two.Five percent to 7.7 million vehicles.
Some 24.Four million vehicles were sold in China last year, more than any other country, making it the most significant market for global automakers. However, this year’s slowing growth does not bode well for the industry.
The association said the sport utility vehicle segment was the only one that grew, with sales rising 11.1 percent over a year ago to 684,400.
SUVs are popular with Chinese families who see them as safer, and their sales help automakers offset falling request for sedans, which contracted 7.7 percent last month, and minivans, which shrank twenty percent.
Sales of Chinese-brand vehicles fell 1.9 percent to 733,000.
Among foreign carmakers in China:
— General Motors Co. said sales of GM-brand vehicles by the company and its Chinese playmates slipped 1.9 percent in April from a year earlier to 272,770. Deliveries of SUVs, minivans and luxury cars rose fourteen percent.
— Ford Motor Co. said sales grew eleven percent to almost 94,000, with sales of its luxury Lincoln brand almost doubling to Four,500.
— Nissan Motor Co. sales rose 9.Five percent to 105,324 vehicles.
— Toyota Motor Co. sales rose 7.Two percent to 108,300.
— BMW AG sales, including Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, hopped 12.Four percent to 142,958.
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