Auto output, sales surge
CAR manufacturers in Shanghai saw profits and output grow faster than any other manufacturing sector during the first half of this year, the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau announced yesterday.
The city’s carmakers reported combined profits of 6.6 billion yuan (US$825 million) for the first six months of the year, a 49.4 percent increase from the same period last year. The auto industry accounts for 13.8 percent of Shanghai’s total industrial profits.
The bureau reported that carmakers saw revenues and output grow faster than five other major industries, including steel, information products, petrochemicals, household appliances and bio-medicine.
Auto industry output was valued at 68.7 billion yuan from January to June, up 57.4 percent year on year. The auto industry now accounts for 8.1 percent of the city’s total industrial output and accounts for 3.7 percentage points of the city’s industry growth.
“The rebounding industry benefited from new policies that favor sales of small engine powered family cars, coupling with people’s increasing income,” said bureau official Wang Zehua.
Shanghai Automotive Industrial Crop, the nation’s second largest automaker, sold 682,000 units during the first half of the year to surpass all other domestic automakers.
Car production in the city could jump by as much as 25 percent this year from 2005, the bureau estimated.
