China's auto sales growth may pick up in the second half of this year when the country's economy is likely to snap out of its downturn.
If China's economic situation improves with higher growth rates in the remaining months of the year, the auto industry will be able to achieve its annual sales target of 20 million units, up 8 percent from last year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said yesterday during the inauguration ceremony of its market trade committee.
The association maintained its growth forecast, given in January, after cumulative sales this year rose 2.9 percent to 9.6 million units by June, recovering from a 3.4 percent drop in the first quarter.
"With China's domestic demand rising and efforts to keep the economy on a stable upward track strengthened, the car market is now coming out of a trough," said Shi Jianhua, deputy secretary-general of the association.
Deliveries of passenger cars are expected to jump 11 percent to 16.1 million units this year, compared with a 7.1 percent increase in the first six months, the association said.
Pan Jiancheng, deputy director of the China Economic Monitoring and Analysis Center under the National Bureau of Statistics, said that though China's economy may bottom out in the third quarter and pave the way for the auto market's further advance, not much can be expected from car sales growth after a ninefold increase within 10 years, with annual sales hitting 18 million units in 2010. "Such geometric growth is not sustainable," Pan insisted.
Having slowed down for a sixth straight quarter, China's gross domestic product growth dropped to 7.6 percent in the April-June period.
China's auto sales growth may pick up in the second half of this year when the country's economy is likely to snap out of its downturn.
