Friday, February 6

US car sales fall below China's for first time

Now this is interesting. I quote:

Annualised US car sales slipped below 10m last month in spite of steep discounts offered by carmakers and government efforts to ease lending. GM said it estimated the overall annualised selling rate for cars at 9.8m in the US in January, compared with 10.3m in December, and less than China’s estimated selling rate of 10.7m last month.

”This is the first time in history that China has surpassed the US,” said Michael DiGiovanni, GM’s head of global sales and industry analysis. However, auto market analysts in China said the figures were not comparable because the Chinese figure included all vehicles produced in China - including heavy commercial vehicles and buses - while the US figure did not. Chinese passenger car production last year was 5.8m.

Still, a headline figure has significantly changed the balance of impressions at least. A small milestone on the path of shifting economic powers.

Technorati Tags: ,,

No comments: