China Auto Sales Rise 14% as Foreign Brands Target Small Cities
Passenger-vehicle sales in China rose last month, as foreign automakers stepped up their push into smaller cities with cheaper models in a challenge to local carmakers, Bloomberg reports. Retail deliveries of cars, multipurpose and sport utility vehicles climbed 14 percent to 1.47 million units in June, the Passenger Car Association said on its website in early July. For the first six months, sales rose 11 percent to 9.09 million. Foreign automakers are targeting China’s smaller cities as the country’s major population centres increasingly restrict the number of passenger vehicles to curb pollution and congestion. That’s led to the introduction of cheaper models to compete with local carmakers, which have struggled to stem a loss in market share in the world’s largest auto market. “Automakers are focusing their product launches on the lower- and mid-end of the market,” said Harry Chen, a Shenzhen-based analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co. Ltd. “When new products come into the market, it stimulates sales.” General Motors Co. (GM) introduced the Aveo subcompact sedan last month, while Volkswagen AG started sales of the new Polo compact sedan at the end of May, according to the companies. At a starting price of 73,900 yuan ($12,000), the Aveo is cheaper than BYD Co. (1211)’s G6 sedan and compares with the 68,800 yuan price tag for Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. (175)’s EC7 sedan, according to pricing data from GM and car-shopping website autohome.com. The competition is eating into the market share for Chinese brands. China’s local marques accounted for 21.5 percent of industry car sales…
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