China still world’s largest auto market despite sales dip China continued its dominance as the world’s largest #auto market for the sixth year in a row in 2014. According to data released by the China Association of #Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), 23.49 million cars were sold in the country last year, with the sector experiencing a 7% growth year-on-year. However, that figure is a sharp drop from the 13.9% increase witnessed a year earlier. What’s even more concerning is that was also much lower than the expected 8% to 10%. Experts from CAAM attributed the loss of momentum to an economic slowdown, sluggish growth of the commercial cars market and the higher comparison base of 2013. Nevertheless, what is being seen as an important change is the robust growth that the #NewEnergy car sector has displayed. According to data, 78,000 units of green vehicles, triple the number sold in 2013, were sold in 2014. The surge comes amidst the Chinese government’s efforts to limit pollution. “Such rapid growth of production and sales of new energy cars last year has encouraged the development of the industry. New energy cars will maintain a sustainable growth at more lower cost if the sales can reach over 350,000 by 2015,” says Xu Yanhua, Deputy Secretary General, CAAM CAAM, in fact, says that it is optimistic that car sales in 2015 would continue to expand, reaching an estimated 25.13 million units. It bases its forecast on strong demand emerging from smaller cities and rural areas.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 11:00:00 +0000