China to hit 15 million car sales in 2010 – perhaps.

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From Retuers:

China’s passenger car sales are on track to hit 15 million units in 2010, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday, citing a senior official from an industry body.

The strong sales growth rates in the first few months of the year were due mainly to a low base effect, and so the recent slowdown in growth was not worrisome, said Dong Yang, secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Chinese car makers sold a record 13.6 million cars in 2009, helping the country to surpass the United States as the world’s top car market by numbers of units sold.

Will the Chinese car industry really hit 15 million cars this year? It seems unlikely now as various car companies are a long way from hitting their end of year sales targets in 2010. Chinese manufacturers are going to have to work very hard in the next few months if they plan to reach their sales goals. BYD have reacted early by slashing their sales goal for 2010 and Toyota are planning to entice consumers with discounts to woo them into show rooms. How the end of year results look rely does depend on October – December sales when the weather is generally more comfortable and consumers start looking to buy a car to drive home for the new year.