China's passenger car output falls in February

China’s passenger car output falls in February

China's passenger car output amounted to 144'200 units in February 2005, down 23% from January 2005, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says. NBS indicates that due to the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, passenger car output fell 1.5% year on year to 329'300 units in the first two months of 2005. The recent increase in gasoline prices also contributed to the decline in passenger car output. Elsewhere, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) had previously disclosed that February car sales fell 28.3% year on year to 133'800 units, while car output tumbled 29.6% to 131'400 units. CAAM data also indicates that for the first two months of 2005 car sales fell 15.99% year on year to 286'100 units. Car output during the same period was down 7.96% to 301'200 units.