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China's first modern automaker was founded in 1956 in the northeastern province of Jilin, and first Sino-foreign joint venture was established in 1984 by SAIC Group and Volkswagen AG. The industry has seen rapid expansion since annual output exceeded one million units in 2002.
China overtook the US for the first time as the world's largest auto market by sales volume in 2010, during which:
- Overall vehicles sales were up 32.37% to 18.06 million;
- Passenger cars sales were 33.17% to 13.76 million;
- Sales of cars with engine smaller than 1.6L were up 27.98% to 6.63 million;
- Sales of cars with engine 1.6-2.0L were up 29.77% to 2.15 million;
- Sales of cars with engine 2.5-3.0L were up 39.72% to 66,700;
- Commercial vehicle sales were up 29.9% to 4.3 million;
- SUV sales were up 101.27% to 1.33 million;
- MPV sales were up 78.92% to 445,400;
- Minivans sales were up 27.77% to 2.49 million;
- Trucks sales were up 30.47% to 3.86 million;
- Heavy-duty vehicles were up 59.93% to 1.02 million;
- Buses & coaches sales were up 25.14% to 443,100.
The major Sino-foreign joint ventures are
- SAIC (Shanghai) - Volkswagen (Germany)
- SAIC (Shanghai) - General Motors (Germany)
- FAW Group (Changchun, Jilin) - Volkswagen (Germany)
- Dongfeng Motor Corp (Wuhan, Hubei) - Citroen (France)
- Beijing Automotive Group (Beijing) - Hyundai (South Korea)
Air pollution and traffic congestion are major obstacles for growth in the traditional auto industry in China. Auto sales growth slowed significantly to 3.4% in the first half of 2011 from a year earlier. The government has introduced a string of incentives to develop renewable energy-powered or electric vehicles but the efforts have been stymied by technological bottlenecks.
The top five mainland-listed automakers by market value are
- SAIC Motor Corp (SHA: 600104), based in Shanghai
- Huayu Automotive System Co (SHA: 600741), based in Shanghai
- Chongqing Changan Automobile Co (SHE: 000625), based in Chongqing
- FAW Car Co (SHE: 000800), based in Changchun, Jilin
- Jiangling Motors Corp (SHE: 000550), based in Nanchang, Jiangxi
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@2011 China Economy @ The China Perspective.
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