Auto sales growth hit 13-yr low in 2011

The breakneck expansion of China's auto production and sales slowed last year, according to an industry association.

The growth pace of the industry hit a 13-year low, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said on December 12.

A total of 18.4 million vehicles were produced and 18.5 million sold last year, up 0.8 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, from a year earlier, with the growth rates slowing down by 31.6 percentage points and 29.9 percentage points each from 2010, the CAAM said on its website.

Last year, the sunset of subsidies toward some areas of the auto sector put the brakes on the headlong growth of the industry, said the CAAM. The introduction of car purchasing restrictions in big cities like Beijing to ease traffic congestion also took a toll on sales.

To stimulate domestic consumption in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the government granted subsidies to rural auto buyers and buyers of small-engine vehicles. These measures expired at the end of 2010.

About 6.1 million passenger cars bearing a Chinese brand were sold last year, down 2.6 percent year-on-year, said the CAAM, dampening the hopes of Chinese automakers for domestic brand expansion.

According to the CAAM, Chinese brands accounted for 42.2 percent of all passenger vehicle sales in 2011, with the rest mostly produced by joint ventures under a foreign brand.

Auto exports hit a record 814,300 vehicles, up nearly 50 percent, as manufacturers attached more importance to the overseas market amid a domestic slowdown, said the CAAM.

Alternative energy-driven cars saw fast sales growth in 2011, said the CAAM without citing a comparison, at 5,579 electrical vehicles and 2,580 hybrid vehicles sold, respectively.