Society

Auto sales, output continue to drop in May

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-09 17:52

BEIJING - China's auto sales and output continued to trend downwards in May, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said Thursday.

Figures released by the CAAM show auto output in May hit 1.3489 million units, while sales hit 1.3828 million. Both output and sales declined from April, when output and sales reached 1.53 million and 1.55 million, respectively.

CAAM figures Thursday show that on a year-on-year basis, auto output and sales in the first five months this year rose 3.19 percent and 4.06 percent, respectively, but the growth rates both fell sharply compared to the double-digit growth in same period last year.

China's auto sales surged more than 32 percent year-on-year to hit 18.06 million last year, making the country the world's largest auto market for a second year. Production last year topped 18.26 million, an annual increase of 32.44 percent.

The country's auto output and sales started to shrink both on a year-on-year and month-on-month basis since April as sales that month decreased 0.25 percent from 2010, the first decline in more than two years. Output also dropped 1.85 percent.