Domestic automakers grow market share

China’s domestic automakers grew their market share by four percentage points to 26% in September despite fiercer competition from abroad, China Auto News reported. Figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed domestic automakers sold 111,100 self-branded vehicles last month, compared to total sales of 425,900 by all automakers across the country. The growth was unexpected given a few foreign automakers, including South Korea’s Hyundai, Japan’s Honda, and France’s Peugeot-Citroen, offered discounts on mainstream models. Chinese Chery’s QQ subcompact and Flagwind sedan and FAW’s Xiali economy car were the best-selling Chinese models. The top 10 included Geely’s Free Cruiser, Haima’s Family, Brilliance’s Junjie and BYD’s F3 sedans. The top 10 models accounted for 76% of total domestic sales last month. Total auto sales in China – the world’s second largest auto market – surged 21% year-on-year to 4.36 million and production grew 21.6% year-on-year to 4.6 million in the first three quarters.