By Rong Xiandong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-07-26 15:40

Sales of small-displacement cars in China dropped in the first half of this year amid the overall auto industry boom and in stark contrast with dramatic sales increases of cars of other sizes, as the majority of consumers still consider cars a symbol of social status.

Sedans with displacements of no more than one liter saw a 28.87 percent sales decline year-on-year to 134,300 units in the first half, compared to the 25.92 percent increase for sedans and the 22.26 percent for passenger cars that include sedans, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), multi-purpose vehicles and minibuses, according to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Sedans between one and 2.5 liters accounted for 93.31 percent of the total 2.28 million units sold in the first half, the association's statistics show.

The dip in small car sales compares even worse to cars with larger displacements, such as cars between 1.0 and 1.6 liters, whose sales increased 31.61 percent, 1.6- to 2.0-liter cars with sales up 56.06 percent, and cars between 2.0 and 2.5 liters, up more than 100 percent, according to Jia Xinguang, an auto industry expert.

Sales of cars with under l.3 liter displacement dropped 11.67 percent in China in the first six months and decreased 25 percent in the Chinese capital of Beijing, where there’s a growing population of middle class, said Su Hui, general manager of the Beijing Asian Games Village Automobile Exchange, a barometer of the Beijing and Chinese auto markets.

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In the first half of the year, the Beijing Asian Games Village auto trading market sold about 36,000 passenger cars, among which only about 25 percent have an engine size below 1.3 liters, compared with about 50 percent in the same period of 2005, according to Su.

Low-emission car brands failed to enter the 25 best sellers list in the Beijing Asian Games Village Auto Exchange unlike last year, when QQ and Xiali were on the list.

Several factors combined to create the slump in sales of low-emission cars, according to experts.

First, the vast majority of consumers still value social status over other aspects like fuel economy and price in terms of buying a car.

Less than 20 percent of potential consumers would choose to buy a low-emission car, according to a recent survey of 15,000 people by auto consultancy Sinotrust.

An information technology (IT) company employee surnamed Fang said he prefers an electric bike to a car of less than one liter as such a car would harm his dignity.

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