Chinese Car Sales Break Sound Barrier

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: October 14th, 2009

China’s auto sales have most likely broken the 10 million unit sound barrier at the time of this typing. This according to educated estimates of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) via Gasgoo. The association expects annual sales for 2009 to surpass 12 million.

In September, China’s auto sales had soared 78 percent (compared to September of the prior year) to 1.33m units. Sales of passenger cars, including sedans, SUVs and MPVs, rose 83.6 percent to 1.02m units. September marked the seventh straight month in a row that China’s car sales exceeded one million units a month.

For the first nine months of the year, China’s vehicle sales increased 34.2 percent.

Beginning in January 2009, China’s total car sales exceeded those of the United States. The lead of the Chinese market has extended ever since. China’s Global Times reports that during the recent eight day October holidays, 10,000 cars were registered in Beijing alone. China’s capital, which had one million registered motor vehicles in 1997, now has 3.88m

Analysts already warn that 2010 growth will be lower than the record numbers in 2009. According to the analysts cited by Gasgoo, “the industry will still grow, albeit at a slower pace.” The second half of 2008 was disappointing for China, comparisons with last year show huge increases. Next year, it will be harder to exceed current record numbers.

China’s GM doesn’t share this cautious opinion. “We expect our sales to continue to grow, even a little faster than the industry next year,” GM China’s President Kevin Wale told reporters. In the first nine months of 2009, GM China’s vehicle sales jumped 55.6 percent from a year earlier, hitting a record with 1,292,549 units sold. GM’s Henderson believes that China will stay ahead of the USA for quite some times. “It’s not a blip,” Henderson said to AFP. Quite perceptive.

Ford’s Mulally hopes that total U.S. industry sales will be 11 million in 2009, rising to 12.5 million in 2010 and to about 14.5 million in 2011. At that rate, the U.S.A. will never catch up with China.

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 37 comments

DearS on Oct 14, 2009

Ah, and GM just got billions of free cash. I'm feeling some anger, sadness and fear right now.

Like Reply
Addd on Oct 22, 2009
” Most of Russia’s cars are shiny new imports, so many that Russia had to put high import tariffs on cars to prop up their domestic industry.” Do you have the numbers? Here they come. AvtoVAZ (Lada) indeed has about 25% market with GM and VW following closely behind: http://www.aebrus.ru/application/views/FCKEditor/files/FCKEDITOR/file/AEB_pr_3q_09_eng.pdf

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Redapple2 I gave up on Honda. My 09 Accord Vs my 03. The 09s- V 6 had a slight shudder when deactivating cylinders. And the 09 did not have the 03 's electro luminescent gages. And the 09 had the most uncomfortable seats. My brother bought his 3rd and last Honda CRV. Brutal seats after 25 minutes. NOW, We are forever Toyota, Lexus, Subaru people now despite HAVING ACCESS TO gm EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT. Despite having access to the gm employee discount. Man, that is a massive statement. Wow that s bad - Under no circumstances will I have that govna crap.
Redapple2 Front tag obscured. Rear tag - clear and sharp. Huh?
Redapple2 I can state what NOT to buy. HK. High theft. Insurance. Unrefined NVH. Rapidly degrading interiors. HK? No way !
Luke42 Serious answer:Now that I DD an EV, buying an EV to replace my wife’s Honda Civic is in the queue. My wife likes her Honda, she likes Apple CarPlay, and she can’t stand Elon Musk - so Tesla starts the competition with two demerit-points and Honda starts the competition with one merit-point.The Honda Prologue looked like a great candidate until Honda announced that the partnership with GM was a one-off thing and that their future EVs would be designed in-house.Now I’m more inclined toward the Blazer EV, the vehicle on which the Prologue is based. The Blazer EV and the Ultium platform won’t be orphaned by GM any time soon. But then I have to convince my wife she would like it better than her Honda Civic, and that’s a heavy lift because she doesn’t have any reason to be dissatisfied with her current car (I take care of all of the ICE-hassles for her).Since my wife’s Honda Civic is holding up well, since she likes the car, and since I take care of most of the drawbacks of drawbacks of ICE ownership for her, there’s no urgency to replace this vehicle.Honestly, if a paid-off Honda Civic is my wife’s automotive hill to die on, that’s a pretty good place to be - even though I personally have to continue dealing the hassles and expenses of ICE ownership on her behalf.My plan is simply to wait-and-see what Honda does next. Maybe they’ll introduce the perfect EV for her one day, and I’ll just go buy it.
2ACL I have a soft spot for high-performance, shark-nosed Lancers (I considered the less-potent Ralliart during the period in which I eventually selected my first TL SH-AWD), but it's can be challenging to find a specimen that doesn't exhibit signs of abuse, and while most of the components are sufficiently universal in their function to service without manufacturer support, the SST isn't one of them. The shops that specialize in it are familiar with the failure as described by the seller and thus might be able to fix this one at a substantial savings to replacement. There's only a handful of them in the nation, however. A salvaged unit is another option, but the usual risks are magnified by similar logistical challenges to trying to save the original.I hope this is a case of the seller overvaluing the Evo market rather than still owing or having put the mods on credit. Because the best offer won't be anywhere near the current listing.