China: SUVs sell faster but buyers eye gas prices

Half-year sales for sport utilities vehicles in China rose 39 percent from a year earlier, outpacing the growth for the whole industry.

And models with smaller engines led the field amid high gasoline prices.

Chinese auto makers sold 158,000 SUVs for the first six months, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers Tuesday. The total vehicle market rose 23 percent to 4.37 million units.
For models with an engine capacity between 1.6 liters and two liters, sales of two-wheel-drive SUVs rose 83.4 percent and four-wheel-drives were up 78 percent, compared with the first half last year.

This compared with a 25 percent increase for SUVs powered by engines bigger than two liters.

“Small-engine SUVs are more favored by Chinese consumers for daily use,” said Zhang Xin, an auto analyst from Guotai Jun’an Securities Co Ltd.

“The high gasoline price also prompted them to choose fuel-efficient models to cut costs.”

Xinhua