Chinese Car Market Back With a Bang, Set to Dethrone US as World's Largest
China’s new car sales come roaring back. After a strong first quarter, China’s passenger car sales, including minivans, rocketed up a whopping 44.5 percent in April from a year earlier. Shen me? (Excuse me?)
The boom was helped by government policy measures to bolster demand in both urban and rural areas, Gasgoo reports, citing data of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Passenger vehicle sales, including minivans, came to 800,541 units in April. That’s another 3.7 percent increase over the already strong March sales of 771,898 vehicles.
Total passenger car sales in China from January through April were 2,972,308 vehicles, up 24.8 percent from a year earlier.
CPCA says the reason for China’s car sales boom are the government’s industry stimulus policies, which cover measures to boost vehicle purchases through tax breaks and subsidies.
Whatever the true reasons may be, China is squarely back in double digit growth territory and should definitely dethrone the US as the world’s largest car market in 2009.
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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They're not buying any $2,000 Nanos. The cheapest cars there are about $7,000, but the average is probably in the mid or high teens. The equivalent car costs more in China than in the US.
rpol35: It's a new month, so a new set of sales stats. Or do you get upset each time a monthly sales report is released?
April. 4th article.
Michael Karesh "It’s a new month, so a new set of sales stats. Or do you get upset each time a monthly sales report is released?" It's not news, that's the point. It seems to be some subtle dig that the U.S. auto market is in disgrace because it is no longer number one and has been eclipsed by China. Well no $hit sherlock! I don't understand why someone would express surprise (or glee?) that the Chinese auto market is larger than the U.S. market. Something would be wrong if it weren't considering it is home to largest consuming population on earth.