The China medium- and heavy-duty Classes 4-8 commercial truck and bus markets posted strong sales in the fourth quarter of 2009, pushing annual sales to just over one million units for the year, according to a report published jointly by ACT Research Co., LLC, (ACT) and China's State Information Center (SIC).
The just-released China Commercial Vehicle Outlook notes that sales of heavy- and medium-duty trucks in Q4’09 were up solidly on a year-over-year basis from a weak fourth quarter of 2008. Due to strong demand for construction related vehicles and improving fundamentals in transportation, each vehicle segment posted strong growth for the full year, led by heavy-duty straight truck growth of 22 percent. However, a continuing shift towards freight hauling versus construction is expected to lead to heavy-duty tractor growth of 27 percent in 2010. The current China Outlook report increased the forecast in each vehicle category for full year 2010.
“A slight recovery in global trade and increasing domestic consumption in China are boosting demand for freight services,” said Ken Vieth, Senior Partner with ACT. “The need for more freight-hauling capacity is supplanting a modest slowdown in construction activity from China’s infrastructure initiatives. This is having the effect of keeping overall commercial vehicle demand high, although creating some changes in the vehicle mix.”
SIC is affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission of China and is engaged in research on the macro-economy, key industries and information technology. The Business Consulting Center, a division of DIC, specializes in auto market industry research.
The next quarterly issue of the China Outlook will be published in June 2010. For more information on this report or on ACT, go to www.actresearch.net or call 812-379-2085.