Shanghai (ZXZC)- China Association of Automotive Manufacturers (CAAM) predicted that 2018 automobile sales will have a year-on-year growth of 3% with an annual sales volume of 29.87 million units.

Statistics from CAAM reveals that the overall sales of passenger vehicles (PV) in 2018 will reach 25.59 million units, only up 3% from a year earlier. Down to segments, the sedan sales will slightly decrease by 1% year on year with a total amount of 11.77 million units. The MPV sales may slid back by 11%, to 1.79 million units. Moreover, the sales of SUV will rise by 11% to 11.52 million units compared with the sales of 2017.

The report also shows that the sales of commercial vehicles (CV) possibly come up to 4.28 million units in 2018, growing by 2%. Among CVs, the sales of coaches will drop by 8% to 470 thousand units, while the van sales will have a growth of 3% on year-on-year basis, with the sales volume increasing to 3.81 million units.

Besides, it also estimates that the export business will remain a slower growth in 2018. The export sales might be up to 1.06 million units, rising 15% year on year. However, the growth rate of import in 2018 may decrease to 4%.

CAAM states that by the end of 2017, the overall sales of this year could possibly reach around 29 million units, increasing by 3.5% from a year earlier.

Xu Haidong, the assistant secretary general of CAAM said “Over the past decade, China’s automobile market has witnessed a stable growth on sales, during which the year of 2010, 2013 and 2016 all maintained a two-digit growth rate. After that, the growth rate has been in a stable condition.”

The PV sales of 2016 have 87% market shares, rising by 17% compared with its market shares of 2008. It is obvious that PV overnumbers CVs in sales. While, since the beginning of 2017, the sales of CV have registered a positive turn. Therefore, the proportion of PV to CV in sales this year may keep almost the same as 2016.