China May Car Sales Grow at Faster-Than-Expected Pace (Update1)
By Tian Ying
June 6 (Bloomberg) -- China's passenger-car sales grew a faster-than-expected 16 percent last month, as demand spurred by economic growth withstood the effects of the country's deadliest earthquake in 32 years.
Sales of passenger cars, multipurpose vehicles and sport utility vehicles jumped to 564,600 in May, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in an e-mailed statement today. The growth rate was quicker that April's 11 percent.
Sichuan province was hit by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake on May 12, which may have killed as many as 80,000 people and destroyed numerous factories and buildings. Still, the disaster failed to damp demand in Asia's largest auto market because of rising wages and growing production across the country.
``Demand has overcome the disruption of the earthquake,'' said Zhang Xin, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co. in Beijing. ``The May number was better than I expected.''
China's economy has grown at least 10 percent in each of the past five years, making cars affordable to more people and spurring sales. China, ranked as the world's seventh-biggest auto market in 2001, is now second behind the U.S.
To tap rising demand, overseas carmakers, such as Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp., have built plants in the country and added new models. The rising competition has forced automakers to drop prices by about a third over the past seven years.
Car sales in the first five months climbed 17 percent to 3.02 million, the automakers' group said. Volkswagen AG's two Chinese ventures topped the auto sales rankings in the period. Shanghai General Motors Co. was third.
The following table shows China's 10 bestselling cars in May, the sales total and the manufacturers.
================================================================
No. Model Sales Automaker
================================================================
1. Jetta 18,243 FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co.
2. Santana 17,562 Shanghai Volkswagen Co.
3. Accord 15,923 Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co.
4. Corolla 15,228 Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co.
5. Yuedong 12,239 Beijing Hyundai Motor Co.
6. Camry 12,070 Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co.
7. Lova 11,337 Shanghai General Motors Co.
8. Excelle 11,140 Shanghai General Motors Co.
9. Xiali 9,782 Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile Co.
10. Focus 9,568 Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co.
================================================================
Source: China Association of Automobile Manufacturers
To contact the reporter on this story: Tian Ying in Beijing on
