
By Michel Stevelmans @ Shutterstock.com
For ten straight months auto sales have fallen in China. April saw another sharp decline of 14.6% compared to the year before. Trefor Moss reports at MarketWatch:
Vehicle sales were down 14.6% year over year at 1.98 million, the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Monday, as concerns over the Chinese economy’s growth prospects sapped consumer confidence. Sales had declined 11.3% in the first quarter of 2019, having fallen 12% and 9.6% in the two previous quarters, respectively.
Passenger-car sales were down 17.7% in April, while sales of commercial vehicles were flat.
The prolonged downturn has been a blow to global auto makers used to relying on China for growth. Ford Motor Co.’s sales in China declined 36% on-year in the first quarter of 2019, while General Motors Co.’s sales fell 18%.
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