Hongqi sales

HONGQI, a brand under China’s leading automaker FAW Group, sold 33,028 cars in 2018, marking a 602-percent rise year on year, FAW Group said yesterday.

The surging sales were recorded after a new Hongqi H5 model, which targets private buyers at prices between 149,000 yuan (US$21,900) and 195,000 yuan, was released last year. FAW Group said it has since last year sped up the expansion of its product portfolio, introducing new Hongqi models including the first pure electric SUV Hongqi E-HS3 and luxury SUV Hongqi HS7, both scheduled to hit the market in 2019. It has also since last year opened 104 Hongqi dealerships across China in a drive to expand their sales networks.

Export figures

EXPORT figures from December were “not very encouraging” but China has plenty of room to deploy measures to spur economic growth, a senior official of the Chinese’s securities regulatory body said Tuesday.

“If things continue to be challenging ... on fiscal policy there is room to expand. The government sector can still leverage a lot,” Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission, said in a seminar in Davos.

Shantytown projects

THE country’s housing ministry said Tuesday investment in a massive shantytown redevelopment project totalled 1.74 trillion yuan (US$255.68 billion) last year.

Construction began on 6.26 million housing units in 2018, the ministry said on its website. China set the 2018 full-year target at 5.8 million units. The social project also boosted broader property demand in China as residents were encouraged to use cash compensation to buy a new home, analysts said.