Figures released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) show that the Chinese car market cooled further in July and was 17% under the same month last year.

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The Chinese vehicle market has cooled this year under the combined influences of higher inflation (reducing consumers’ disposable income), increased petrol prices, the effects of the Sichuan earthquake and generally lower consumer confidence (stock markets are down).


According to the CAAM, 488,200 passenger cars were sold in China in July, 17.02% under the same month last year.


Among the sedans sold in July, 82,400 and 128,400 units were Chinese- and Japanese-branded, accounting for 22.84% and 35.58% of the total, respectively. And German, US, South Korean and French sedan brands ranked from second to fourth among foreign brands, in terms of sales in the month.


However, cumulative sales were still up on last year. In the first seven months of 2008, 4.0993m passenger cars were sold in the country, including 3.0285 million sedans, jumping 15.79% and 14.69% year on year. And the share of Chinese-branded sedans take in the total sedan sales was 24.95%, compared to 26% a year earlier, according to CAAM.

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