Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news

Growing sales of entry-level cars have set the domestic car market on the road to recovery, after being slack since last April, today's Youth Post reported.
A total of 249,600 passenger cars were sold nationwide last month, with the fastest monthly growth of 24 percent over the same period last year. In the first five months of the year, 1.1515 million passenger cars were sold, up 7.5 percent from the previous year.
With the continuing increases in fuel prices, consumers are opting to buy economy cars with small engines. Sales of sedans priced at more than 200,000 yuan (US$24,000) were still in decline.
Hefty price cuts are not expected this year, and with the recovery of the car market cutting inventories, most cars have seen price increases last month.
Entry-level sedans were priced at an average of 93,400 yuan at the end of last month, up 800 yuan from a month before; the average price of mid and high-end sedans saw price increases from 188,000 yuan at the end of April to 194,400 yuan last month.
Producers are betting on the car market this month. In the first quarter of the year, domestic car makers suffered nearly 60 percent profit declines from a year before, with the situation expected to be improved in the second quarter of the year, said an industry analyst, adding that the cooling real estate and stock markets are likely to make more consumers turn to the car market.