Good news coming out of China

It’s not all bad news if we are to take the figures coming out of China at face value. The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) have stated that Chinese car sales in February grew by a whopping 33% year on year with a total of 607,984 passenger cars sold last month compared to the 456,901 sold in February 2008.
The association put the widely unexpected rise in February car sales down to the government's industry stimulus policies which included cuts in some road fees and a reduction in purchase tax for smaller cars.
However the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said the figure was 24% which equated to 607,300 units. Also the CPCA stated that January’s car sales fell 0.2 percent from a year ago to 647,594 vehicles, but this was again contradicted by official data from the CAAM which said sales of passenger cars fell 7.76% to 610,600 units in January.

In another announcement the CPCA predicted that passenger car sales are estimated to grow at a more moderate rate of roughly 10 percent in March.

With the contradictions in published figures coming out of China it’s difficult to have too much faith in the figures but it is safe to say that the industry in China is fairing a lot better than elsewhere in the world and may go some way to explaining the continuing interest and investment of foreign car makers in the market.