Passenger vehicle sales continue to decline in May

A salesman at a dealership in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. Brisk sales and insufficient supply last year made nearly all of China's automakers expand their capacities at the beginning of this year. [An Xin / China Daily] China's monthly passenger vehicle sales continued to decline in May, bringing the risk of a glut to vehicle producers after they aggressively expanded production capacity in response to last year's unexpected market boom.

A total of 1 million cars, multi-purpose vehicles, sports-utility vehicles and minivans were sold in the nation in May, up 23.2 percent from a year earlier, the lowest rate during the past 13 months. The figure was down 5.9 percent from April, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

This is the third time so far this year that China's monthly passenger vehicle segment reported negative growth compared with the previous month.

This compares to domestic sales of 1.31 million in January, with a growth rate of 111 percent year-on-year.

Rao Da, secretary-general of the association, said that the sluggish stock and property markets had started to impact on auto sales, while the week-long production stoppage in Honda's parts plant due to a strike also ate into sales figures.

He predicted similar sales in June and said people should consider buying cars in the coming three months as automakers will launch promotions like price cuts to perk up their sales.

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