Passenger car sales slipped in first two months for first time in 12 years

Chinese passenger cars on the narrow definition sales rose 9.3%  year-on-year to 144,820,000 units in February and declined 30.2% on month-on-month basis,according to the data released by CPCA.

By model,the sales of sedans decreased 0.3% year-on-year and MPVs fell by 9.1%.While SUV was the only segment that gained a growth with an increase of 29.2%.

The domestic passenger car sales met with a fall of 9.3% in January so the market saw a decrease of 2.4% in the first two months this year.It is the first time that the passenger car sales of the first two months dropped in twelve years.The general secretary of CPCA Cui Dongshu said the pre-consumption at the end of last year combined with the influences from the fact that last Chinese Spring festival was earlier than before overdraw some sales of the first two months.

In February, the rangking of top three in domestic passenger cars market reshuffled.FAW-Volkswagen took the crown from SAIC Volkswagen while SAIC General Motors Wuling surpassed the SAIC General Motors to win the third place.SAIC Volkswagen sold 118.3000 units in February ,down 13.8% from last year and FAW Volkswagen sales increased 10.9% to 118.7000 units.

With more 31 thousand vehicles delivered, Lavida family still topped the A Class market.Tiguan and Tiguan L SUV contributed a total of 20thousand,the all-new Tiguan L sold 12,000 more with an increase of 60% compared to last month.More models will be added to the SUV segment by SAIC-Volkswagen with Teramount and Kodiaq ready to launch.

SAIC-GM fell to the fourth place though its sales grew 6.79%  to 108,500.And the fore-runner SGMW delivered 112,000 vehicles in February.

Janpanese Cars Sold Well

As for the Janpanese automakers,Dongfeng Nissan slipped to the eighth place.FAW Toyota ranked ten replacing Changan Ford with the sales of 47,3000, up 32%. Changan Ford dropped out to top ten again since last April.In February ,the automaker sold 46,3000 vehicles ,down by 27.9%.All the five main models of Changan Ford sold less than previous year and last month.Apart from Changan Ford, other joint-venture auto manufacturers from America and Europe all has seen a decline in the first month.

Janpanese automakers were an exception.GTMC sales of February rose to 26,000,increased 40.4 percent.Honda retail sales reached 81,110 units ,up 41.1%. Cui Dongshu suggested that Janpanese brands were less impacted by the reduction on small car purchase tax cut.

Cui predicts the retail sales shall grow in March with an increase exceeding 10%.