May 13, 2013
Translated by Chi Yi

Sales of luxury cars in China grew by over 8 percent in the first three months of 2013 when compared to the same period in 2012, a long way off from the 80 percent annual growth registered in 2010.

In 2011, a year when overall vehicle sales increased by only 4 percent, luxury car sales jumped 40 percent.

An article in today Beijing Times quotes an unnamed person working in the industry as saying that the rapid slowdown in the growth of luxury car sales is linked to a government push to rein in spending on official cars.

The paper also quoted Yan Jinghui (颜景辉), the deputy manager of a car market in Beijing, as saying that the although the new government policy has had a big impact on the industry, the general macroeconomic situation had also effected demand.

In 2012 almost all auto makers faced huge inventory pressure. As demand fell the supply of imported cars also decreased sharply. In the first quarter of 2013, 229,000 cars were imported into China, a 19.4 percent fall on the number imported during the same period last year

Data covering the first four months of the year shows that BMW sold 118,200 cars in China, an increase of almost 18 percent year-on-year and Audi sold 141,500 cars, up almost 14 percent on last year.

However, the pace of growth is down from the 35 and 41 percent registered over the same period last year.

Links and Sources
Beijing Times: 严控公车致豪车市场“大刹车”