China's auto industry steady in first 4 months

Beijing (CNS) -- China produced 6.43 million vehicles and had year-on-year growth of 0.47 percent in the first four months of 2012, while total auto sales dropped 1.3 percent to 6.42 million vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on Wednesday.

Home-made brands saw drops in market share and showed no signs of recovery, with sales of domestic brands only accounting for 42 percent of the total, down 3.2 percent.

However, automobiles manufactured by Japan, Germany, the U.S., France and South Korea all showed positive year-on-year growth in the Chinese market in the first four months. German cars experienced a growth of 16 percent, far faster than the others.

China exported 278,900 cars in the period, up 24 percent from last year.