The nascent economic recovery is boosting demand for cars, with new-car sales last month rising for the first time since September.
Car sales in April increased by 12.2 percent year on year to 31,708 vehicles, the Chinese-language newspapers reported yesterday, citing the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
For the first four months, new-car sales reached 123,382, a decline of 4.4 percent from the same period last year.
Kuozui Motors Ltd (
Kuozui, which began to sell the Taiwan-made Toyota Camry vehicles last month, reported new-car sales at more than 8,000. China Motor sold 7,944 vehicles, a 3.9 percent gain from a year ago, the report said.
Kuozui said it sold more than 6,000 Camry cars last month, while China Motor attributed its sales growth largely to the Savrin recreation vehicles (RV), which accounted for 1,273 units.
Sales for Yulon Motor Co (
Local auto sales have been sluggish in recent years, with 347,433 cars sold last year, down sharply from 420,467 units in 2000.
Some industry experts have expressed optimism that sales will recover in the third quarter if the domestic economy rebounds.
But an executive at Ford Lio Ho Motor Co (
Nevertheless, "demand for recreation vehicles is expanding," Jeffrey Shen (
Indeed, the number of RVs sold in the first four months surged 75.9 percent from last year, the government figures show.
Ford has developed six RV models, including sport-utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles, Shen said.
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