China Car Sales Fall First Time in 11 Months After Tax Hike
- Geely, GAC buck trend with new sport utility vehicle models
- Toyota, Nissan deliveries slump as sedan sales decline
Retail auto sales.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A sales hangover and holiday-shortened month combined to send China’s passenger-vehicle sales to their first decline in almost a year, with sedan deliveries bearing the brunt of the slump.
Deliveries fell 9.8 percent last month to 2.12 million units in January, the first decline since February of last year, according to the China Passenger Car Association. The week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which started on Jan. 27 this year, also crimped demand. Showroom traffic slowed last month after consumers bought passenger vehicles at the fastest pace in three years in 2016 to take advantage of a tax cut on small-engine automobiles before it was scaled back.