China’s car sales rise 8% in March

Fear of purchasing restrictions in major Chinese cities means panic buying and inflating vehicle sales

Wholesale deliveries of cars, MPVs and SUVs rose 8% to 1.7m units in March.  Consumers are apparently anxious about license plate limitations and have started panic buying vehicles, according to data from the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The restrictions, designed to limit the number of polluting cars in major cities, have already been in place in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou for some time and have now been introduced to Hangzhou and Tianjin.

In Tianjin, consumers placed orders for 70,000 vehicles on the day the new restrictions were implemented. According to the Passenger Car Association, panic purchases could add an extra 500,000 units to overall car buying this year.

In the first quarter, GM regained its lead over rival VW as deliveries rose 13% from a year earlier to 919,114 vehicles, besting VWs 880,770 unit sales. Total vehicle sales, including buses and trucks, rose 7% to 2.2m units in March. First quarter sales also grew 9% to 5.9m units.

However, China’s homegrown automakers continued to see their market share ebb, accounting for just 39.3% of industry sales, representing a decline for the seventh straight month in a row.