Elimination game starts in car market
28/7/2004 11:51
Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news
The good days for
domestic car manufacturers might be gone after the Chinese car market flourished
for two consecutive years.
Chinese car manufacturers were involved in a
merciless elimination game in the first half of the year, with productions
suspended for nearly ten car models, eastday.com reported today.
Most car
models that were crossed out of the market are economic sedans. In February this
year, Ford Festiva (1.3L) was suspended production; Tianjin First Automotive
Works (FAW) announced suspension of Echo and Xiali 2000 sedans this year.
The
price cuts of tens of thousand yuan on New Accord and Mondeo sedans have
reshuffled the domestic mid-end car market. Beijing Hyundai suspended production
for Sonata 2.0 (AT) sedans in March this year; in May, Shanghai VW announced to
stop production for two Passat models after their prices dropped below 200,000
yuan (US$24,000) for the first time.
Supply outpaced demand in domestic
sports-utility-vehicle (SUV) market in the second half of last year, with
productions stopped for mid-end Chevrolet Blazer SUVs at the beginning of this
year.
In order to avoid frequent price cuts, domestic car manufacturers are
preferring to suspend productions on unpopular models, but they ensured
sufficient supplies of the relevant auto parts and quality maintenance services.
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