New vehicle sales in China increased 8.8% year on year to just over 2m units in April, driven by strong demand for light passenger vehicles, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
Chinese brands lagged the market with sales rising just 4.5% to 597,000 units in April, with sales of Chinese passenger cars actually contracting by 12.9% – according to CAAM. Demand for Chinese brands was particularly weak in the replacement car market, with customers preferring foreign or foreign joint venture brands.
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Cumulative vehicles sales for the January-April period reached 8m units, putting the market on track to hit 24m units in 2014.
Passenger car sales increased 12.7% to 1,511,095 units in April and 10.4% to 6,380,595 units in the first four months of the year.
General Motors and its local joint ventures reported a 6.3% increase in sales to 278,263 vehicles in April, and over 1.2m units in the first four months of the year. GM’s sales in China are split between four main brands – Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Wuling.
Ford reported a 29% increase in sales to 96,289 in April and a 41% rise in year to date sales to 368,150 units; followed by Nissan with a sales rise of close to 15% to 118,500 units. Toyota’s sales increased by 12.4% to 85,800 units in April and by over 20% to 313,800 units year to date.
In contrast, Honda’s sales actually fell by 3.6% to 58,398 units at month, after a 2% decline in March. The brand’s cumulative four month sales were up by almost 11% at 222,408 units, however.
