New Imported Cars to Become Superstars

Xu Changming, the Director of Resources of the State Information Center said imported cars are directly linked to the economy's level of activity at the 2009 China Automobile Dealers Association's Annual Conference, according to the Oriental Morning Post. Xu said the faster economy rebounded, the faster imported cars would grow. “In the first five months the imported cars suffered from negative growth. In addition, this year imported cars do not enjoy any incentive policy. After June this market began to gradually enter positive growth period."

As to the import car market in 2010, industry experts have expressed optimistic opinions. Ding Hongxiang, the Chairman of China's imports Automobile Trading Co., Ltd., said in an interview that the growth rate of imported car market would be slightly higher than that of China-made car market. Dinghong Xiang said: “If the sales growth of domestic vehicles is about 16%, the growth rate of imported cars will be about 20% since imported cars' basis is relatively low in 2009 without much inventory. The import car market has to make up their inventory. There is another reason. After the adjustment in 2009, some multinational companies have many new models.

Some new models with 3.0-liter and smaller engines will be introduced, which may increase imports. Therefore, the growth rate of import car market will be slightly higher than the growth of China-made cars. After a careful view at the import car market in 2010, we may find a number of "superstars". Some shining models will be introduced into China's auto market, including the new Audi A3, Volvo S60, the new Mazda 3, Infiniti G25, and the new Prius and so on. The new Mazda 3 will become the first import model to enter China in 2010. The new Mazda 3 hatchback and sedan will be introduced by Changan Mazda via FAW Mazda. Mazda 3 has attracted lots of attention. The automaker revealed that the new Mazda 3 hatchback with "world-class car" label had received so may orders which were far more than expected. Chinese consumers are looking forward to this new hatchback. Mazda 3 hatchback has won a lot of praise for its design style and operating performance and environmental philosophy. There are a number of attractive aspects in Mazda 3. As a "world-class car", Mazda 3 has won 96 awards in the global market and gained a number of awards in overseas markets without too long time.

Some industry insiders believed that several imported cars which will be introduced in 2010 are laying the groundwork for localization work. Therefore those models focus on the mainstream market rather than the personalization that was popular previously. So long as there is enough supply of imported cars, the market may enjoy booming sales easily. (Translator: Qinghua/ Hanxin)

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