Vehicle sales in China climbed by 10 percent year-on-year during the first three quarters of this year, mainly boosted by the faster-growing passenger vehicle segment, the latest statistics show.

The growth rate seems to be slowing down; last year it was 15.5 percent, down from a sensational 34 percent in 2003.

Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that sales of made-in-China vehicles (including commercial vehicles) stood at 4.14 million units from January to September this year, up 10.12 percent from 2004.

Sales for all vehicles in September alone were 496,000 units, a record high for the last three months of the nine-month period. The figure was up 18.38 percent from August and up 13.81 percent from the same month last year.

In the first nine months of this year, sales of passenger vehicles, including cars, sport utility vehicles, multi-purpose vehicles and vans, grew by 16.83 percent year-on-year to 2.8 million units, according to the statistics.

Passenger vehicle sales last month amounted to 354,000 units, an increase of 20.98 percent from August and 31.11 percent when compared with the corresponding period of last year.

"This has mainly resulted from a slew of new product launches and price cuts by manufacturers in China over the past two months," said Jia Xinguang, an analyst with the China Automotive Industry Consulting and Development Corp.

However, sales of commercial vehicles - trucks and buses - dipped by 1.74 percent to 1.33 million units in the first three quarters from the year earlier, according to the statistics.

Jia predicted that China's vehicle sales for 2005 will grow by 10 percent from 2004 to around 5.6 million units.

"Although the expected pace is slower than last year, it is quite reasonable, and healthy. China remains the world's fastest-growing major vehicle market, compared to North America, Europe and Japan," Jia told China Daily.

Benjamin Asher from Automotive Resources Asia Ltd, a consultancy with offices in Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai, said the Chinese passenger vehicle market this year has shifted from one predominantly controlled by sales to the public sector to one which sees the majority of sales going to the private sector.

"This has helped bring some stability to the market, evident in the strong sales throughout the summer months, which have in the past been slow," Asher said.

He predicted the overall passenger vehicle market in China is expected to nudge up by over 20 percent in 2005 from 2004, if the sales momentum remains strong until the end of this year.

The second major change in China's passenger vehicle market this year -- a knock-on effect from the shift in the consumer base -- is that the strongest growth is coming from the small car segment, where most models sell for under 60,000 yuan (US$7,400), he said.

"Through to the end of the year and into early 2006, we expect to see more micro cars and subcompacts enter the market. The smaller, more economical vehicle is destined to play a bigger role in a market traditionally dominated by the large sedan," he added.

(China Daily October 20, 2005)