China may beat U.S. in Jan. auto sales
Auto sales in China are expected to come out ahead of U.S. sales by 20 percent. This may not stay the case in the long term, but China will still be top priority for automakers worldwide. Scott Tong reports.
The back bumpers of Toyota vehicles (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
More on International, Asia, Auto Industry
TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: Toyota hasn't had a yearly net loss since 1950. But the Japanese automaker this morning says it could very well be upwards of $4 billion in the hole this year. That's triple the loss it originally expected. And the way carmakers are losing money, you'd think no one was buying. Except the Chinese -- they're purchasing enough cars that for the first time, sales may exceed those in this U.S. when those numbers come out next week. Here's Marketplace's Scott Tong.
Scott Tong: January auto sales in China are expected to come in around 800,000 vehicles. That's 20 percent higher than U.S. sales. Now this is just one month, and the image here is not exactly a Chinese roadster zooming past an American one. It's more of a wheelchair race.
Michael Dunne is with J.D. Power and Associates:
Michael Dunne: You've got the Chinese puttering along, and the U.S., against all expectations, going backward down the highway.
Eventually, Dunne expects U.S. sales to nose back ahead. But in the long term, he says the Chinese market is priority one for every automaker on the planet.
Dunne: It is where the growth is. And if you want to be around 10 years from now, you better be competitive in China starting today.
The Detroit Three face the same challenge in China as they do back home: making little cars that sell.
In Shanghai, I'm Scott Tong for Marketplace.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Marketplace reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.