Car Sales Drop 3% in China

Consumer demand for passenger vehicles in China fell 3% to 1.4 million units in August, marking the third consecutive month of year-on-year shrinkage, the China Assn. of Automobile Manufacturers reports.

A second group, the China Passenger Car Assn., has not yet reported its statistics on the market.

CAAM says demand for SUVs and crossovers surged 46% to 453,000 units. But deliveries of conventional sedans fell 16% to 762,000. Sales of typically lower-priced domestic-brand vehicles, which expanded their market share to 39% last month, gained 3%.

A few brands posted sales gains in August. Honda sales zoomed 51% to 73,300, Mercedes-Benz jumped 35% to 32,800 and Porsche climbed 17% to 4,800.

Last month's overall sales decline follows drops of 3% in June and 7% in July. The slump, caused by a cooling economy and stock market gyrations, has reduced annual growth in passenger vehicle demand in the first eight months of 2015 to less than 3%. Analysts, who previously predicted about 7% growth this year, now caution that the market could slip into a full-year decline compared with 2014.

CAAM says August sales of all vehicles, which include commercial trucks and buses, also fell 3% to 1.7 million units.