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China’s Round-The-Clock Auto Factories Still Cannot Meet Demand Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Nissan Motor Co.’s factory incentral China is making cars almost 24 hours a day, yet PanXiaowei still waited three months for her new Tiida compact toarrive at the dealership.
“It wasn’t like this a couple of years ago,” said Pan, 34,whose husband runs a property development company in Shandongprovince. “We used to buy and get a car straight away, and nowyou have to pre-order and wait.”
China overtook the U.S. last year as the world’s largestautomobile market with sales surging 46 percent to 13.6 million,according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.Nissan, Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. are running theirChinese factories at full capacity, with overtime and weekendshifts, and still can’t deliver enough cars.
“Based on our current growth rate and planning assumptions,the capacity of our two facilities will not be able toaccommodate the expected future demand for our products,” NigelHarris, general manager of Ford’s venture with Chongqing ChanganAutomobile Co., said in an e-mail.
About 99.7 percent of cars made in China through Novemberlast year were sold, the association said. Foreign automakersare expanding assembly lines as buyers in secondary citiesbeyond Beijing and Shanghai benefit from government subsidies ofat least 5 billion yuan ($732.5 million), a sales tax cut and8.9 percent economic growth.
Rural Consumption
Car sales have been fueled by demand in rural areas wherethe growth rate exceeded that of urban regions last year for thefirst time, Trade Minister Chen Deming said in a Jan. 13interview with state broadcaster CCTV.
“Spending power in the medium and small cities is rising,and demand there has surpassed those in bigger cities,” saidWei Tuo, a Henan province dealer for Nissan’s joint venture withWuhan-based Dongfeng Motor Group Co. “Cars are no longerconsidered a luxury item but a standard consumer product.”
Wei’s company has about 40 outlets in the central regionselling several brands. About 55-60 percent of sales come frommiddle- and small-sized cities, he said.
Nissan is the No. 1 Japanese automaker in China, with lastyear’s sales rising 39 percent to 756,000, outselling ToyotaMotor Corp. and Honda, according to the three companies.Nissan’s top seller is the Teana.
Running Almost 24 Hours
Nissan is spending 5 billion yuan to expand its Hubeiprovince plant to build up to 600,000 vehicles annually from thecurrent 430,000, spokeswoman Kana Minamidate said. That centralChina factory makes the Tiida compact and Livina series popularin secondary markets, she said.
“The plant was originally operating with two shifts butnow we have three shifts to build cars almost 24 hours a day,”Minamidate said, adding that customers still wait for deliveries.
Nissan also is spending 1 billion yuan on a light-commercial vehicle factory in the eastern city of Zhengzhou thatwill open this year and build up to 120,000 vehicles annually.
China requires overseas carmakers to work with localpartners, who must own at least 50 percent of joint ventures.These ventures produced eight of the 10 best-selling cars lastyear, according to automobile association data.
Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co. has plants in Chongqingand Nanjing building cars “at maximum allowable overtime andweekends,” Harris said. The company will open a $490 millionfactory in Chongqing in 2012 making up to 150,000 vehicles ayear, boosting overall capacity to 600,000.
‘More Traffic Jams’
Near-term growth will be concentrated in eastern andcentral regions, and cities outside Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghaiand Shenzhen, Harris said. The venture opened more than 65percent of its new dealerships last year in smaller cities, andthat proportion is expected to reach 75 percent in the next fewyears.
“There are more traffic jams in Chengdu than in Beijing,”said Zheng Minda, vice general manager of a Ford dealership inthe Sichuan province city. “Demand is greater than supply.”
Customers wait at least a month for delivery, he said.
The government unveiled stimulus packages and new banklending to spur domestic consumption after GDP growth slumpedfor eight straight quarters and exports declined for 14 monthsas the global recession took hold.
Still, automakers face possible overcapacity in China,according to Chen Bin, who oversees regulation of the country’sauto industry at the National Development and Reform Commission.
China has more than 100 automakers and they should “keeptheir heads cool” to prevent expanding production beyond demand,Chen said in September.
Income Gap
Urban residents earn about three times more than rural, whocomprise more than half of China’s 1.3 billion people, accordingto government statistics.
Rural Chinese buying a new minivan or light truck can get asubsidy of 10 percent of the purchase price, up to 5,000 yuan.Those replacing light trucks can get another 5,000-18,000 yuan.
The government also reduced the sales tax on new vehicleswith engines of 1.6 liters or smaller to 5 percent from 10percent. It said Dec. 10 it was raising the rate to 7.5 percent.
Honda, which opened 55 dealerships mostly in small citieslast year, is focusing expansion in suburbs and exurbs of majorcities, said Masayuki Igarashi, general manager of its Chinaoperations office in Tokyo. Its best-selling model is the Accord.
Chief Financial Officer Yoichi Hojo said in November thatthe company, which makes about 550,000 cars a year in China,doesn’t have enough capacity. The Yokohama, Japan-basedautomaker plans to increase production at its Hubei provinceplant to 240,000 cars this year from 200,000.
The Wuhan factory runs at full capacity and built 210,000units last year with overtime and weekend shifts, Hondaspokesman Yoshiyuki Kuroda said. It makes CR-Vs, Civics andAccords, and wait times are at least a month, he said.
Pan, who lives between Beijing and Shanghai, said a lot ofChinese households now own two cars.
“It used to be that only company bosses could afford a car,but now teachers and office workers can also buy one,” she said.
--Stephanie Wong, Makiko Kitamura, Yuki Hagiwara. Withassistance from Tian Ying in Beijing. Editors: Michael Tighe,Bret Okeson.
To contact the reporters on this story:Stephanie Wong in Shanghai atswong139@bloomberg.net;Makiko Kitamura in Tokyo atmkitamura1@bloomberg.net;Yuki Hagiwara in Tokyo atyhagiwara1@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: January 14, 2010 13:00 EST