Nation’s car-making majors still dominate mainland auto market

Name: SCMP
Telephone: +852-2680-8888

Strong annual performances recorded by Guangzhou Automobile (net profit +71.5pc), SAIC (+7.5pc) and Dongfeng Motor (+5.4pc)

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

China’s top 10 car conglomerates accounted for by far the most purchases last year, 25.56 million units or 88.5 per cent of the national total. Photo: Xinhua

Daniel Renin Shanghai

Published: 11:00pm, 29 Mar 2018Updated: 11:07pm, 29 Mar 2018

Three of China’s largest vehicle makers reported strong earnings growth for 2017 on Thursday, led by Guangzhou Automobile Group, with a whopping 71 per cent profit jump.

The rises recorded by the three listed firms – SAIC Motor, Guangzhou Automobile and Dongfeng Motor Group – show the country’s largest car makers are still bucking the trend of a slowing global auto market, and ratcheting up the pressure on their smaller domestic rivals.

China is the world’s largest auto market and saw vehicle sales accelerate 3 per cent last year, albeit compared with 13.7 per cent growth in 2016.

The Trumpchi SUV on display at the 17th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition last year, which had over 1,000 models from around the world on display. Photo: Simon Song

Its top 10 auto conglomerates account for by far the most purchases, 25.56 million units in 2017 or 88.5 per cent of the national total, 0.2 of a percentage point higher than in 2016.

“Market leaders, buoyed by their brand awareness and launches of new models, will continue to take the lion’s share of the market,” said Peter Chen, a Shanghai-based engineer with US auto component maker TRW.