SAIC Motor Corp., the biggest auto company on China’s A-share market, has reported flagging sales during the first four months of the year. Auto sales plunged 16.8 percent year on year to 1.99 million units during the period, Xinhua quoted a statement issued by the Shanghai-listed firm as saying yesterday. SAIC Motor’s three joint ventures, namely, SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC-GM and Shanghai General Motors Wuling, all reported falling sales, down 9.2 percent, 16.6 percent and 26.5 percent, respectively. Its self-owned brands — Morris Garages and Roewe — were not spared from the sales slump, showing a 15.3 percent decline in sales during the period. China has seen weak sales in recent months. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the country’s biggest auto industry association, said yesterday that vehicles sales in China, the world’s largest auto market, fell 14.6 percent in April from the same month a year earlier, marking the 10th consecutive month of decline. Sales fell to 1.98 million vehicles. That followed declines of 5.2 percent in March and 14 percent in February, as well as the first annual contraction last year since the 1990s against a backdrop of slowing economic growth and crippling trade war with the United States. (SD-Xinhua) |