Global rivals invest in designing models aimed at local tastes
China’s car sales growth slowed in February, despite a near doubling in purchases of Chinese-made SUVs, an industry group reports.
Sales in the world’s biggest auto market rose 6.4 per cent to 1.4 million vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
That was down from January’s 10.3 per cent expansion.
Demand for autos has weakened as China’s economic growth cooled to a two-decade low last year of 7.4 per cent. February sales also were depressed by the Lunar New Year holiday, when many businesses close for up to two weeks.
For the combined two-month period of January and February, passenger vehicle sales rose 8.7 per cent from a year earlier to 3.4 million units. Total vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, rose 4.3 per cent, which CAAM said represented a decline of 6.5 percentage points from the growth rate the same time last year.
Global automakers see China as a future revenue driver and are investing heavily to create models to appeal to local tastes. That is squeezing domestic brands such as Geely, Chery and Great Wall.
Sales of Chinese-brand SUVs jumped 94.7 per cent in February to 187,000 vehicles. That helped to offset a 3.3 per cent decline in domestic sedan sales to 174,000 vehicles.
Last year, sales of Chinese sedans slumped 17.4 per cent.
CAAM said Chinese automakers gained market share in February, reversing a steady decline, but gave no details. Last year, their market share fell by 2.1 percentage points to 41.2 per cent.
Last year’s total passenger vehicle sales rose 9.9 per cent to 19.7 million vehicles.
The country is the biggest market by number of units sold but smaller than the United States in financial terms because Chinese drivers buy smaller, less expensive vehicles.
Foreign brands grew more slowly than the overall market in February.
General Motors said sales of GM brand vehicles by the company and its Chinese partners rose 1.3 per cent over a year earlier to 261,072.
Foreign automakers that want to manufacture vehicles in China are required to work through local partners.
Ford said sales of its vehicles rose 9 per cent to 79,384. For the first two months of the year, Ford sales rose 15 per cent to 191,983 vehicles.
Nissan, the most popular Japanese brand in China, said sales contracted 2.4 per cent to 70,200 in February.