Vehicle production has grown significantly as consumer demand remains strong
Total automobile production and sales in China have risen to 21.43m and 21.08m units respectively in the first 11 months of the year. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, production and sales growth have risen 7.2% and 6.1%, compared to growth rates of 7.1% and 7.4% in 2013.
CAAM expects the automobile market to roughly track GDP growth at around 7% next year, with new energy vehicles being the motivation from many new car purchases. 57,125 NEVs were produced during the first 11 months, with almost 53k units sold. Of those sales, some 29k were pure electric and nearly 24k were plug-in hybrids.
However, the association also warned of rising dealership inventories, which grew by 351,400 over the same period. The China Automobile Dealers Association has raised the warning index for dealership inventories to approaching 66% in November, up more than 10% from the previous month.