Auto industry heading for slowdown

Source: Xinhua | 2018-10-24

A SENIOR official said yesterday that China’s auto sales and production were entering a period of slow growth.

The country’s auto sales and production had been at high levels, reaching more than 29.4 million units in 2017, and it was hard to sustain that rate, said Xin Guobin, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

“The period of fast auto sales and production expansion may be over, and slow growth is likely to be the new normal,” Xin said.

Auto sales and production totaled 20.49 million units in the first nine months of the year, up 1.5 percent and 0.9 percent from one year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.

In September, auto sales fell for the third month in a row, down 11.55 percent from one year earlier.

Production dropped 11.71 percent.

But Xin said the auto industry still enjoyed vast potential for development as huge demand would emerge from replacement and small cities.