China 2015 auto sales growth hits three-year low

Vehicle sales in China, the world's largest car market, increased at their slowest pace in three years in 2015, industry group data showed on Tuesday, as slowing growth and volatile stock markets hit demand. A total of 24.60 million cars were sold last year, up 4.7 per cent from 2014, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

That was down from a 6.9 per cent rise in 2014 and marked the slowest growth since 2012 when sales increased by 4.3 per cent, previous CAAM figures showed.

CAAM secretary general Dong Yang estimated that purchase restrictions imposed in big cities pulled auto sales growth down by up to eight percentage points, while extraordinary swings in the country's stock markets were responsible for a two percentage point drop.

"The 2015 car market downturn was to some extent accidental," Dong wrote in an article on CAAM's website. Looking forward, "those factors should improve clearly and the auto market will not grow as slowly as in 2015", he added.

Sales may gain around six percent this year to top 26 million units, CAAM said Tuesday, according to 

Bloomberg News.