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#1
02-07-2005, 03:04 PM
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No Longer a "Hidden Dragon"
SHANGHAI:
China, currently the world's fourth largest automarket, is expected to produce more than six million cars, trucks and buses in 2005, up 20 percent from last year, data showed. The rise in production would catapult it ahead of Germany and make it the world's third biggest vehicle manufacturer after the United States and Japan, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on its website. China's auto market cooled last year but sales were still up 15.5 percent to 5.07 million vehicles after a gain of 34.2 percent in 2003. Passenger car sales, the hottest market segment, rose 15.17 percent to 2.33 million units in 2004 but were well below the blistering 75.28 percent pace seen in 2003. The slowdown was in part due to government-imposed loan restrictions meant to reduce the pace of frantic spending on new plant and investment with apparently little thought for potential market demand. For luxury carmakers Audi and Mercedes-Benz, the slowdown was readily apparent with both German companies reporting fractional sales growth in China last year. Volkswagen subsidiary Audi said that it sold 64,018 cars here in 2004, up just 0.8 percent from the previous year and well off its target of 80,000, Xinhua news agency reported. Market newcomer Mercedes-Benz said that its combined sales in the mainland and Hong Kong rose by only five percent to 11,500, short of its target of between 13,000 and 14,000 units. Still, the country's fledgling automobile market is forecast to record very strong annual growth of 10-15 percent this year, much higher than growth rates of less than three percent in developed markets. According to vehicle output figures given by Xinhua, the United States ranked first last year (2004) with 11.96 million vehicles produced, Japan second with 10.51 million followed by Germany with 5.57 million. 
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