China’s passenger car sales rose 48 per cent in June on the same month last year. The rise consolidates a remarkable recovery that has catapulted China to the top position in the world vehicle market so far this year.
The strength of China’s vehicle sales – total vehicles sales rose 18 per cent for the first half year to 6.1m from the same period last year – has surprised car market analysts, government officials and even the country’s carmakers, many of whom are scrambling to produce enough vehicles to meet demand.
Some car dealerships have reported shortages of vehicles and western carmakers such as Volkswagen and GM have had to increase production sharply at their Chinese joint ventures to meet local demand.
High Bank lending is believed to have spurred demand. China on Wednesday announced that new lending in the first half was Rmb7,400bn ($1,084bn), up 201 per cent year-on-year and equal to 150 per cent of full-year lending in 2008.
By contrast, sales in India rose an annual 7.8 per cent in June, while sales in Russia shrank 56 per cent year-on-year.
Total US light vehicle sales for the first half of this year were 4.8m, according to JD Power.
The strength of the Chinese market is one small ray of hope for Western Manufacturers who already have a presence in their.
