Chinese Gov’t Warns of Car Market Slump
A high-level Chinese official says China’s new-vehicle sales this year will drop below 30 million units this year and could trail last year’s 28.9 million total, Bloomberg News reports.
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A high-level Chinese official says China’s new-vehicle sales this year will drop below 30 million units this year and could trail last year’s 28.9 million total, Bloomberg News reports.
The decline would be the market’s first year-on-year decline in about 20 years. With that likelihood, carmakers should avoid excessive capacity expansion, cautions Wu Wei, who heads the machinery equipment division of China’s National Development and Reform Commission. He urges manufacturers to focus on sustainable investment returns.
Wu’s comments at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai are the central government’s most direct warning to date about the market contractions, Bloomberg says.
Wu adds that Chinese sales of hybrids, plug-ins and all-electric vehicles will exceed 1 million units in 2018, enough to capture more than 3% of total car sales.
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