China In October 2011: Running Out Of Gas
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) released its October sales, and they confirmed the rumors that they were nothing to write home about. Total automobile sales are down 1.07 percent compared to October 2010. Production rose less than 2 percent. Passenger vehicles still outpace the overall market, up 1.42 percent.
Commercial vehicles keep dragging the market down. In October, sales of commercial vehicles were 9.93 percent below the same month in 2010. Homegrown brands continue to lose market share at 29 percent.
In the first ten months of the year, slightly above 15 million vehicles were sold, indicating that the year should end at around 2010 levels.
In light of the underwhelming performance of the general market, the performance of GM China is astounding. October sales across all brands of GM China were up 10.4 percent. Usually, GM tracks the market.
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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