BEIJING, Sept. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- There was a pull-back in the car buying environment in August according to Chinese consumers, with relative stability in sentiment outweighed by a sharp downward revision in reported car ownership and plans to buy.
After picking up in the month before, 37.5% of respondents said they currently owned a car, down from 40.3% in July and the lowest since the beginning of last year. There did not appear to be any plans to revise up this figure either, with the proportion of consumers planning to buy a car in the next 12 months falling to 18.7% in August from 20.7% previously. Further detail reveals that the drop was driven more by a reduction in additional purchases with the percentage of consumers planning to buy their first car rising slightly over the month.
In terms of the general car buying environment, however, the picture was not so gloomy. Still, overall sentiment remains at a low level and pulled back after showing some signs of life in July. The Car Purchase Expectations Indicator (a gauge of whether consumers believe it is a good time in general to buy a car) fell 0.9% to 100.2 in August, roughly back in line with June's subdued level. Its close proximity to 100 indicates that roughly the same proportion of respondents were positive about purchasing a car as those who were negative.
Predictions for the price of gasoline were relatively unchanged in August, with the Gasoline Price Sentiment Indicator down 0.3% to 126.5 from 126.9 in July. The indicator has been in a holding pattern for more than a year now since oil prices began to crumble.
The composite indicator for sentiment about the auto sector, which is made up of Car Purchase Expectations and Gasoline Price Sentiment was also relatively flat on the month. The Car Purchase Sentiment Indicator fell 0.3% to 86.9 in August from 87.1 in July, unable to break out of the downward trend that has emerged so far in 2015.
The planned car budget of Chinese families continued to trend towards the middle ranges in August with the more expensive bands falling out of favour. The largest percentage of responses went to the mid range of CNY 100,000 – CNY 140,000 while the budget tier below commanded the second largest share.
Notes to Editors
The MNI China Auto Purchase Sentiment Report is derived mainly from data collected in the Westpac MNI China Consumer Sentiment Survey, a monthly survey of consumers across China. Further additional questions directly relating to the auto sector are also asked to supplement the dataset. Data is collected via telephone interviews and at least 1,000 interviews are conducted each month with respondents in 30 first, second and third tier cities aged between 18 and 64. Some series date back to 2007 while other more detailed data begins in 2012. Our publication includes a complete dataset that is stratified by age, gender, income, region and tier 1 city.
The MNI China Auto Purchase Sentiment survey is published at 9:45 A.M. Beijing time on the first Wednesday of every month.
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