China auto sales down for second consecutive month

China’s automobile market, the largest in the world, contracted in May as sales declined for the second consecutive month by 4.55 per cent to 1.9 million units, according to official data released on Wednesday.

On a yearly basis, sales volume also edged down 0.4 per cent, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers which attributed the drop in May mainly to a large fall in passenger car sales. Auto output stood at 1.96 million in May, down 5.56 per cent from April, or 0.58 per cent from the same period last year. Sales declined in May for the second consecutive month by 4.55 per cent month on month to 1.9 million units.

The auto market began to contract in April, as sales declined 11 per cent month on month to 1.99 million units, while output reduced 8.9 per cent from March to 2.08 million, reversing increases in March.

Taken together, in the first five months sales in the world’s largest auto market rose by 2.11 per cent year on year, reaching 10.05 million units and output rose 3.18 per cent to 10.24 million.

But growth rates for sales and output during the January- May period decelerated by 6.86 and 6.19 percentage points respectively from the same period last year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Passenger car sales last month fell 3.57 per cent from April to 1.61 million units.

Among them, sales of Chinese brands tumbled 7.77 per cent month on month to 633,100 units in May, accounting for 39.34 per cent of the total. Sales of German brands, which account for the lion’s share of the market among foreign auto makers, dipped to 307,600 units last month, accounting for 19.11 per cent of the total.

Multi-purpose vehicle sales in May plunged 15.88 per cent from April to 140,500 units.

Overcapacity, fierce competition and purchase quota policies in first-tier cities were to blame for the auto market contraction, Liu Weidong, vice general manager of Dongfeng Motor Corp said at a forum in Chongqing on Wednesday.