China Passes 2 Million for Third Straight Month in January

Vehicle production in China totaled 2,051,665 units in January, up 4.4% from year-ago, and was the highest January on record. This was the third straight month that total builds exceeded 2 million units in the country, but was the lowest monthly volume since October.

January proved to be a good month for the truck market as both sectors posted increases from year-ago levels. Light trucks surged 14.1% in the month to 869,789 units, accounting for 42.4% of China’s total output. Medium/heavy trucks also grew, up 6.6% to 84,792, or 4.1% of total builds.

Production of cars fell to 1,084,304 units in January, down 2.1%. This was the first year-over-year drop for the sector since February 2013 and likely was due to continually increasing demand for popular SUV models.

Bus production plunged for the second straight month to 12,780, down 10.9% from January 2013.

Production of the all-new Fiat Ottimo began in January, and the car is scheduled to go on sale in China at the end of the first quarter. The hatchback is largely based on the Fiat Viaggio sedan and will have a sport variant that is due to be released by the end of 2014.

SAIC-GM Wuling’s Hongguang van ranked first among models in January. With 69,945 units produced, it outnumbered the second-place Volkswagen Lavida by about 13,000 units.

Although SAIC-GM Wuling was able to nab the top spot among models in the month, it wasn’t able to take the lead among manufacturers and placed second to Shanghai Volkswagen. The leader built 185,894 units in January, accounting for 9.1% of total vehicle production.      

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