Vehicle sales accelerate to record

Visitors at an international auto show in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Chinese drivers bought 1,881,835 cars, mini-vans and other vehicles last month, up 10.1 percent year-on-year. Li Bin / Xinhua

Market will maintain its growth in February, say industry pros

China's passenger vehicle market got off to a rousing start in the newly welcomed Year of the Horse as sales broke records in January.

Last month, 1,881,835 cars, sport-utility vehicles, multipurpose vehicles and minivans were sold in China, an upswing of 10.1 percent year on year, and 3.7 percent higher than December's sales figures, the China Passenger Car Association said Wednesday.

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"The January sales were remarkable, given that the 10 percent growth rate was based on one that boomed more than 45 percent over 2012", said Rao Da, secretary-general of the association.

"It also indicates continuous growth in the automobile sector in 2014, after the market recovered from two years of near stagnancy in 2011 and 2012," he added.

Jia Xinguang, an independent auto analyst based in Beijing, attributed the record deliveries to the Spring Festival holidays, which are a popular time to purchase vehicles thanks to annual bonuses, toll-free travel periods and festival gift-giving.

"'Panic consumption' over more cities' joining the purchase limitation policy also supported the sales growths," said Rao, adding that "the situation will continue in the coming months."

Rao said that as the sales were much greater than the 1,721,525 units that were produced in January, dealers' average inventories have started to drop. "It is a good sign for the struggling dealers."

He predicted that the market will maintain its growth in February, even though there are only 17 working days this month. The reason? "Other than panic consumption, Chinese government's tightened regulation on official cars will make more civil servants join the individual buyer group," Rao said.