BEIJNG - As increasing
numbers of newly affluent Chinese residents put
the pedal to the metal in the first half of this
year, both private car ownership and car sales
were cruising smoothly.
Despite slackening
in the past two months, China has managed to chalk
up year-on-year growth of 25.9% in car sales for
the first half of this year, sources with the
China Association of Automobile Manufacturers
(CAAM) said.
From January to June, 3.08
million passenger vehicles were sold
nationwide, up 22.3%. The
total included 2.29 million cars, up 25.9%,
107,000 MPVs (multi-purpose vehicles, known as
minivans in North America), up 12.9%, and 158,000
SUVs (sport-utility vehicles), up 39.3%.
By the end of June, more than 13 million
cars in China were privately owned, up 16% over
the end of last year, according to the Ministry of
Public Security.
The growth rate of
private car ownership was slightly down, 0.96
percentage point, from the same period of last
year, according to the ministry's traffic
administration.
The number of motor
vehicles across the country rose to 152 million,
up 5.2% from the end of last year, and almost 90%
were passenger cars and motorcycles. Up to 75.4%
of vehicles were privately owned, up 5.1% year on
year, the ministry said.
The number of car
drivers exceeded 100 million, up 5.7%, and 82% of
them were aged 26-50. The number of inexperienced
drivers also went up, with 36.6% driving less than
three years and 9.4% less than a year.
Beijing has 2.97 million cars. That number
is expected to exceed 3.3 million by the time of
the Olympic Games next summer. At least 1 million
more parking spaces are needed to cope with the
capital's rising car numbers.
CAAM sources
said that in the six-month period, the top five
best-selling models were Volkswagen's Santana and
Jetta, Buick Excelle, Toyota Camry and Chery QQ.
The top car makers in terms of sales were FAW
Volkswagen, Shanghai Volkswagen, Chery,
Dongfeng-Nissan and Guangzhou Honda.
Other
foreign and domestic car makers also reported
strong growth in sales.
Toyota Motor Corp
and Ford Motor Co also reported strong first-half
sales in the Chinese market, where they are
competing to introduce new models to attract
customers.
Toyota sold 212,000 vehicles in
China during the period, up 77% from a year
earlier, powered by brisk demand for its Camry
sedan, the best-selling car in the United States
in eight of the past nine years. Sales of the
Camry in China came to nearly 78,000 units, well
on track to hit the full-year target of 150,000,
or more than one-third of Toyota’s total China
sales goal of 430,000 vehicles in 2007.
Ford said retail sales of its wholly owned
brands in China rose 25% during the first half to
93,206 vehicles. Sales of the mid-sized Focus
sedan, made by a joint venture between Ford, Mazda
Motor Corp and Changan Automobile Co Ltd, came to
55,676 units, up 66% from a year ago, it said in a
statement.
Demand for luxury models was
also strong in China, as its growing ranks of
nouveau riche snapped up the latest premium
models.
Toyota sold 12,000 Lexus cars in
China in the half-year, nearly matching the 13,000
sold in all of 2006 and well on track to meet its
full-year 2007 target of 22,000. Ford's Volvo,
Jaguar and Land Rover brands posted combined sales
of 8,779 units, up 66% from a year earlier.
But both auto makers still lag behind
rivals General Motors Corp and Volkswagen AG in
the Chinese market.
Meanwhile, Chinese car
maker Brilliance Auto, a partner of BMW, said its
sales grew 58% in the first half of the year. The
sales of the Shenyang-based company rose to
140,000 vehicles from 88,600 in the same period a
year ago, said company sources. Monthly sales of
the company's Zhonghua cars - including the Zunchi
(BS 6) and Junjie (BS 4) sedans - maintained at
above 10,000 units for six months in a row this
year.
The company exported 7,000 vehicles
in the first half, up 125% year on year, with the
number of its overseas distributors increasing to
41 from 33 at the end of last year.
Brilliance Auto, China's first car maker
to hold an exhibition at the International Geneva
Motor Show, mapped out a five-year plan in January
to explore the markets in Europe, Russia, the US,
the Middle East and other regions. At the end of
last year, the company clinched an export deal
with a German distributor to sell 158,000 Zunchi
and Junjie cars in Europe over the next five
years.
Brilliance Auto is expected to
produce 300,000 vehicles this year, with sales
revenues reaching 40 billion yuan (US$5.2
billion). It also plans to double its revenues by
2010, by raising its annual output to 500,000.
Another Chinese car maker, Chery
Automobile, plans to raise its annual output to 1
million vehicles by 2010, according to company
sources. The 10-year-old company, based in Wuhu,
capital of Anhui province, is expected to increase
its production capacity by 200,000 vehicles to
700,000 this year.
Chery, an ambitious
flag-bearer of Chinese indigenous brands, became
the country's fourth-largest producer of passenger
cars in 2006, with sales of 305,200 vehicles, up
62% from the previous year. The company held a
7.2% in market share in China last year, up from
6.7% in 2005.
US Chrysler Group, which
signed a deal last week to sell the Chery cars to
North America and Europe, is to select four to six
compact models developed by Chery for exports
under Chrysler Group brands. Sales in North
America and Europe are expected to reach
300,000-500,000 vehicles by 2019.
Chery
also plans to set up a joint venture with Quantum
LLC, a US subsidiary of Tel Aviv-listed Israel
Group, in its attempt to explore the European and
US markets. Once approved by the Chinese
government, the 5.8 billion yuan ($744 million)
joint venture will start production in 2009,
rolling out 105,000 sedans and 45,000 SUVs a year.
Despite its fast growth, Chery is still
far from becoming one of the global auto giants
that produce an annual average of 2 million
vehicles, said a company executive.
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