China's auto market drives into off-season in July
China's auto market drove into an off-season in July as sentiment was dampened due to fewer customers and the heatwave across the country, the China Automobile Dealers Association said.
Another factor for the off-season was that car prices dropped further in July and that led to a decreasing dealer margins, the association said.
"Consumer demand fell in July due to the high summer temperature and fewer customers. We can observe the auto market has entered into an off-season last month," said Fan Yu, a spokesman of the association.
About 41.7 percent of car dealers said the number of car buyers declined in July, 21.8 percent of them believed the number of customers rose and 36.6 percent said the number was flat, according to a survey conducted by the association.
More than half of the dealers said their selling price of cars fell last month, according to the survey.
The association said car dealers are not optimistic on auto sales in August, with some dealers saying market demand and operating conditions will be worse in August compared with last month.
The survey covered most car dealers from the top 100 auto dealership groups in China.