China’s CAAM released April sales today, and as indicated by GM’s good April showing, results are good. Sales of all automobiles are up 13.38 percent to 1,841,700 in April. Treat other reports with caution, many are the usual confusion of passenger vehicles and all cars. In China, there is a huge difference.
According to the CAAM, 1,441,400 passenger vehicles were sold in April, an increase of 12.96 percent over April 2012. Sales of commercial vehicles rose 14.09 percent to production to 400,800. For the first 4 months, total sales stand at 7,266,200.
| Passenger Vehicles | ||
| China April 2013 | ||
| China | 571,200 | 39.62% |
| Japan | 231,900 | 16.09% |
| Germany | 278,600 | 19.33% |
| U.S.A. | 179,900 | 12.48% |
| Korea | 131,300 | 9.11% |
| France | 45,300 | 3.14% |
According to the CAAM data, sales by Japanese makers are down 3.8 percent compared to April last year. As the situation is beginning to normalize, sales of Chinese brands are off their former peaks.
Sounds like good news.
The fact that commercial is also up would point to this being sustainable?
Increases in commercial vehicles sales are always a good sign, bodes well for the economy.