The Chinese government plans to support the car industry, the second-largest in the world, with the aim of ensuring sales growth of about 10 per cent in 2009.
The move is part of the continuing effort to stimulate the economy and shield the country from the effects of the global economic crisis.
The State Council, China's cabinet, is expected soon to announce cuts in car purchase taxes and incentives for the development of clean fuel cars, to help support the flagging local car market, according to the official Shanghai Securities Journal.
After years of double-digit growth, Chinese passenger car sales fell 12 per cent year on year in November as consumer worries about economic growth sapped demand. Figures for December are expected next week.
The proposed sales tax cut on smaller vehicles could help automakers such as Geely, one of the largest Chinese car companies. Geely said yesterday it expects to boost sales by 25 per cent this year as it introduces new models.
Government bodies will be required to buy cars developed by domestic automakers when making fleet purchases, and Beijing will encourage further consolidation in the domestic car industry, the newspaper said. China has 45 carmakers compared with 15 in the US, the world's largest car market.
Premier Wen Jiabao said last week that Beijing had developed plans to help the automobile and steel sectors.
Yao Hongguang, Shenzhen-based analyst at United Securities, said: “With such a basket of stimulus policies, sales growth in the car market this year can reach 10 per cent, still much lower than the compound growth rate of 15-20 per cent over the past five years.”
But JD Power, the leading auto consultancy, said it was still predicting flat or slightly lower passenger car sales in 2009, at 5.8m units.
This is based on the assumption that the global economy will stabilise in the first quarter of this year, and that China's economic stimulus policies offset negative pressures from overseas – neither of which are guaranteed to happen.
JD Power said in a December report that there was a 40 per cent chance the Chinese market could fall by 10-12 per cent, in spite of government efforts to support the market.
參考譯文：
中國政府計(jì)劃為汽車業(yè)提供支持，目標(biāo)是確保2009年銷售增長10%左右。中國的汽車業(yè)在全球排名第二。
此舉是中國政府繼續(xù)努力刺激經(jīng)濟(jì)和避免中國受到全球經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)影響措施的一部分。
據(jù)官方報(bào)紙《上海證券報(bào)》報(bào)道，預(yù)計(jì)中國國務(wù)院將很快宣布降低汽車購置稅和鼓勵(lì)發(fā)展清潔燃料汽車，以幫助支持陷入困境的國內(nèi)汽車市場。
在經(jīng)過多年的兩位數(shù)增長后，由于消費(fèi)者對經(jīng)濟(jì)增長的擔(dān)憂影響了需求，中國乘用車去年11月的銷量同比下降了12%。12月份的數(shù)據(jù)預(yù)計(jì)將在下周發(fā)布。
降低小排量汽車購置稅的計(jì)劃可能有利于吉利(Geely)等汽車制造商。作為中國最大汽車廠商之一的吉利昨日表示，隨著新車型的推出，預(yù)計(jì)今年的銷量將增長25%。
《上海證券報(bào)》稱，中國政府將要求政府部門進(jìn)行采購時(shí)購買國內(nèi)汽車制造商生產(chǎn)的汽車，并鼓勵(lì)國內(nèi)汽車業(yè)的進(jìn)一步整合。中國有45家汽車制造商，而作為全球最大汽車市場的美國只有15家。
中國國務(wù)院總理溫家寶上周表示，政府已制定出振興汽車和鋼鐵行業(yè)的規(guī)劃。
聯(lián)合證券駐深圳分析師姚紅光表示：“有了這樣的一攬子刺激政策，今年汽車市場銷量增幅可能會(huì)達(dá)到10%，仍遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)低于過去5年15%至20%的復(fù)合增長率?！?/SPAN>
但領(lǐng)先汽車咨詢公司JD Power表示，該公司仍預(yù)計(jì)2009年乘用車銷量持平于580萬輛或略有下降。
JD Power的預(yù)測基于下述假設(shè)：全球經(jīng)濟(jì)將在今年第一季度趨于穩(wěn)定，中國的經(jīng)濟(jì)刺激政策會(huì)抵消來自海外的消極影響——這兩種情況都不能保證一定會(huì)發(fā)生。
JD Power去年12月發(fā)表的報(bào)告稱，盡管政府努力提供支持，但中國汽車市場下降10%至12%的幾率仍有40%。
（轉(zhuǎn)載）
