MNI China Auto Purchase Sentiment Survey: Chinese Consumer Attitudes Toward Auto Sector Cool - Fewer Chinese families Willing To Buy Expensive Cars

Consumer attitudes towards the car market tempered in April while car ownership rates slipped a little but remained firm. The latest decrease does little to dampen the improvement seen over the past quarter and is consistent with a continued recovery in the official car sales data. The MNI China Auto Purchase Sentiment Survey for April also revealed that car loans continued to gain favour. This dataset, which is derived mainly from data collected in the Westpac MNI Consumer Sentiment Survey, is the definitive reference point for those seeking to better understand the Chinese auto market from the consumers’ perspective.

The Car Purchase Indicator – a composite indicator designed to gauge future demand for cars – fell to 86.3 in April from 87.6 in March, the first fall in four months and the lowest reading since December. Car buying sentiment has fallen significantly from a year ago when it stood at 92.5, but improvement over the first quarter of 2015 suggests that the more accommodative fiscal and monetary policy conditions could be starting to feed through. 

The small fall in the Car Purchase Indicator was driven by a decline in the percentage of respondents reporting it was a good or excellent time to buy a car. Among those who said it was a bad time to buy a car, most cited prices as the key factor. The Price of Gasoline Indicator had a positive impact on the overall car purchase indicator as fewer respondents said they expected lower prices of gasoline. 

The proportion of those planning to buy a first car plunged in April to the lowest since July 2014, but this was after a sharp jump in the previous month. More positively, the proportion of second car buyers increased slightly in April.

Fewer consumers said they owned a car in April, but the trend in ownership rates remains firmly upwards. The fall was driven by lower car ownership among families in Beijing and the older age cohort of 55-64 year olds. The car ownership gap between high and low income households narrowed in April.

Chinese families were less willing to buy expensive cars while the ‘mid-range’ option (CNY 100,000 - 140,000) was equally popular between March and April.