Shanghai (ZXZC)- The figures from Sinomach Automobile Co., Ltd. shows that 80,000 vehicles were imported into China in August, 2019, a year-on-year slump of 34.5%. The decrease is primarily attributed to the relatively high base resulting from the last year's tariff slash policy and the stagnant auto market. The number for the first eight months amounted to 700,000 units, a decline of 6.9%.

China's sales of imported vehicles slid 10% in August compared with the same period a year earlier to 68,000 units, due to the aftermath of dealers’ efforts to clear their China V inventory in June and the greater pressure from the auto industry's downturn. However, the overall sales from Jan. to Aug. reached 105,000 units, remaining flat over a year ago.  

Besides, the turnover of imported cars’ inventory, sitting at 3.2 months in August, dropped to its lowest level year to date. The reasonable inventory is due to dealers’ prudence in delivery to improve their operation conditions. The inventory of Audi, Porsche, Jeep, Lexus and VW-branded vehicles featured an obvious decline compared with July.  

(Photo source: Lexus)

August’s PV imports fell 34.4% to 78,000 units and the year-to-date imports in the first eight months jumped 7.4% over the year-ago period. As to specific sectors, Jan.-Aug. imports of cars, SUVs and MPVs decreased 6.1%, 8.1% and 11.2% year on year respectively.

The main contributors to imported models' sales are cars and SUVs. From Jan. to August, the sales of cars and SUVs were 262,000 units and 274,000 units, up by 0.8% and 3.3% respectively. However, the MPV sales plunged 65.1% to 5,500 units.      

With regard to the brands, the previously growing imports of Lexus slid 15.4% over a year ago in August. The figure suggests that only Tesla, Porsche and MINI achieved growth.

Among the top 10 brands by Jan.-Aug. imports, half of them, including Lexus, Porsche, Toyota, Lincoln and Tesla, boasted year-on-year growth while Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover's imports tumbled 38.0% and 48.8% over the previous year.