The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) says that vehicle sales in China totalled 2.32m in January, up 7.6% from a year earlier.
However, the trade association also says that passenger vehicle sales were up to 2.04m units from 1.85m a year earlier – a growth rate of just over 10%.
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Analysts say that January’s sales held up because of the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls in February this year and is usually preceded by brought forward sales.
CAAM said last month that it expects China auto sales – both passenger cars and commercial vehicles – to grow 7% to 25.1m units in 2015.
China’s car market is forecast to see slower growth in 2015 as the Chinese economy continues to slow – as expected in response to slower demand in world markets for Chinese goods and reduced government stimulus measures.
Last month dealers complained that foreign OEMs were pushing volumes higher than the market could withstand, forcing retailers to incur losses.
The Chinese economy is forecast by the analysts at LMC Automotive to grow by 6.8% in 2015 versus 7.4% growth in 2014. It projects that the economic slowdown will lead to a slowdown in China’s light vehicle sales growth this year to 5.9%.
Total vehicle deliveries this year are forecast by CAAM at 25.1m vehicles, up from 23.5m last year.
LMC estimates that the Chinese passenger vehicle market reached 19.76m units in 2014, some 13% ahead of the previous year.
