It had to happen sometime: after several years of stratospheric growth, the Chinese vehicle industry has come back to earth with a bump – and found itself facing a grim reality of weak demand and cut-throat competition that could persist well into the future.
Even before the western financial world imploded – stoking fears of a global recession that has chilled the hearts of car buyers, even in faraway China – industry analysts were expecting a slowdown in Chinese car sales this year. But by that, they meant 15 or 20 per cent growth (down from 34 per cent in 2006 and 24 per cent last year) – not low single-digits this year, and flat sales next year, as predicted recently by JD Power, the auto consultancy.
