China Q1 Commercial Vehicle Sales Still Slump

In the first quarter this year, the sales of China's commercial vehicles, which account for about 30% of the country's auto market, continued to drop from a year earlier and lag behind the passenger car sales, said Xinmin Evening News today.

Data show that in the first three months, China sold 683,100 commercial vehicles while 692,600 units were produced, down 6.13% and 4.38% respectively. In March, the output of commercial vehicles hit 343,800 units, up 58.73% month on month (m/m) and up 6.53% year on year (y/y), and meanwhile 337,400 commercial vehicles were sold, up 53.18% m/m but down 5.29% y/y.

Passenger car sales in March came to 772,400 units, up 10.26% from a year earlier, and up 27.2% from February. Although the sales of commercial cars in March rose 53.18% from the previous month, the first quarter's sales still fell from a year earlier and the stockpiles are still rising.

The financial crisis and implementation of the China III emission standard may be two major factors behind the Q1 commercial car sales drop. The auto stimulus policies released by the government earlier this year boosted the sales of passenger vehicles, especially small ones, but the incentives were slow to influence the commercial car market.

In the first quarter this year, the top three commercial vehicle sellers still were Foton, Dongfeng and FAW. The top ten commercial vehicle makers in China sold about 70% of the country's total commercial vehicles in the three-month period.

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