, Columnist
Uncover Your Eyes. There’s No China Car Crash
A third monthly decline isn’t cause for concern: The market is just maturing after an era of super-charged growth.
Not stopping, just changing lanes.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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Calm down: The world’s biggest car market isn’t going to drive off a cliff.
Sales to dealerships in China fell for a third month in September, dropping almost 12 percent from a year earlier, data showed Friday. Retail sales declined 13 percent. Total vehicle sales could now be on track for their first annual drop in more than two decades. Scary stuff. But much of this is a readjustment after years of outsize growth in an industry that churns out more than 20 million cars a year.