China Auto Sales Slump in August, But Still Much Growth Ahead

Sep 09, 2008
Author: SCP Editor

September 9, 2008 - This morning the China Association of Automobile Manufacturer’s said that passenger car sales fell in August, to 451,300. The dip was attributed by Yale Zhang, of CSM Asia as being a result of the Olympics during the month, which was a distraction for consumers, and he expects sales to increase again in September.

Through the end of August total vehicle sales are up 14% to 6.48 million units, and passenger car sales were up 13% to 4.55 million units.

Following is a table of China's top 10 car makers in August and their sales total.  

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No.       Automaker                     Sales
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1.     FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co.    39,277
2.     Shanghai Volkswagen Co.          30,364
3.     Shanghai General Motors Co.      27,983
4.     Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co.     24,573
5.     Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co.   23,373
6.     Dongfeng Motor Co.               23,031
7.     Beijing Hyundai Motor Co.        14,315
8.     Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd.   13,985
9.     Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co.       13,781
10.    Chery Automobile Co.             13,175
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Source: China Association of Automobile Manufacturers

Accenture recently reported that a boost in 1% market share in China to ten percent by 2010 would create a 23% increase in global sales. And the implications for oil demand are pretty daunting, with China alone accounting for 40% of the world’s recent increase in demand for oil. Fifteen years ago, there were practically no private cars in the country, and that number has risen to more than 15 million today, still only a small fraction of China’s eligible population – less than 4% of its 1.3 billion people.