Gasgoo: China's Car Sales To Double In The Next 7 Months

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

I’m afraid our friends over at Gasgoo need a little parental oversight. Or the good folks at China’s premiere auto business site shouldn’t been drinking while posting. Today, they report that the Chinese government invested 5 billion yuan ($736m) in the “cash for clunkers” program last year. As of May 31, only 1.7 billion yuan ($250m) were handed out, with 3.3 billon yuan ($486m) left. No surprise to us. We never thought much of the program. In January, we said: “Due to the relatively young fleet in China, the impact of the cash for clunkers program on sales is expected to be small.” So far so good.

Now for a huge leap of logic:

“Therefore, the country’s automobile consumption in the next seven months will certainly be doubled,” say our friends at Gasgoo.

Shenme? (Say what????)

They really mean it. Says Gasgoo:

“China’s new vehicle consumption has achieved 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) since the “cash for clunkers ” program started on June 1, 2009. After China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) recently extended the program to December 31, the figure is expected to grow to at least 30 billion yuan by the end of this year, Luo Lei, Deputy Secretary-General of China Automobile Dealers Association said recently.”

Here’s hoping that they are thoroughly confused, and that regular reporting will resume tomorrow after the hangover is behind them.

Bertel Schmitt
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.

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  • Blowfish Blowfish on Jun 21, 2010

    Just watching the video briefly, It looks like this 6 lane intersection is uncontrolled or driver never observe the lights. A few left turn vehicle almost had to cut off the bus or the bus would cut him into 1/2. Anyways more cars would aid more traffic chaos. This is something the haves never experience before they have their own cars. I suppose collision in low speed would not cause a great deal of damage anyways. As report says India has the most traffic accidents, including some real deadly ones. Middle Kingdom cant be too behind. Even 7-8 yrs ago, I read from a HK blog talked about new drivers from Middle Kingdom, probably were trained by the Divine Wind Coalition who operated Zeroes they were all over the road.

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