China Vehicle Production Up 4% in November

November production in China totaled 1,761,381 units, up 4.1% from year-ago, the largest year-over-year increase in four months.

Production of passenger cars increased 6.0% in November vs. like-2011 to 991,608 units, its highest volume for any month since December 2010. Light trucks finished at 681,999, up 3.0%. Medium/heavy trucks, however, fell in November for the ninth straight month, down 7.3% to 71,749 units, while buses toppled 7.1% to 16,025 units.

Among active manufacturers, Xian Silver posted the largest decrease from last month, falling 68.6% vs. October 2012 to 11 units. Year-to-date, however, production is up 6.8%. Hengtong also had a substantial drop from last month, falling 60.0%.

SAIC-GM-Wuling took the title of top manufacturer in November for the second straight month, with 143,415 vehicles built, accounting for 8.1% of China’s output. Shanghai GM landed in second place in November, following October’s disappointing fourth place finish, with 135,157 vehicles produced.

SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Zhiguang ranked first among models built in November with 42,652 units produced, booting the Volkswagen Jetta out of the top spot for the first time since June. The Zhiguang currently holds a 2.4% share of production.

Guangzhou Mitsubishi’s new model, the Mitsubishi ZC, is now being built in China, and is part of Mitsubishi’s overall alternative energy strategy that focuses on building hybrid and electric vehicles. The ZC is being built on the company’s GS platform along with the Lancer and Outlander. However, through November, only 8 units of the ZC have been produced.

November’s results brought year-to-date production to 17,482,893, a 4.5% increase over like-2011.

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