[sustran] More Chinese cities to restrict auto ownership

[Lloyd Wright]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-10/china-to-widen-car-purchase-curbs-t
o-fight-pollution-group-says.html

China Seen Widening Car-Purchase Limits to Fight Pollution

By Bloomberg News - Jul 10, 2013 5:56 PM GMT+0800 

China, the biggest emitter of
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/greenhouse-gases/> greenhouse gases, plans to
widen the number of cities curbing auto purchases to fight pollution and
congestion, threatening vehicle sales, the government-backed car association
said. 

Eight cities -- Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Shenzhen,
Shijiazhuang, Tianjin and Wuhan -- will probably introduce measures limiting
auto purchases, Shi Jianhua, deputy secretary general of the China
Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a briefing in Beijing
today, without being more specific about the timing. 

Such limitations could cut vehicle deliveries by 400,000 units, or 2 percent
of nationwide sales, and undermine economic growth, Shi said. If introduced,
the measures may triple the number of Chinese cities -- Beijing and
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/shanghai/> Shanghai have vehicle quotas --
imposing curbs on automobiles as public anger grows over worsening
congestion and air pollution. 

"In the short term, the market will just jump in those cities," said
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/yale-zhang/> Yale Zhang, managing director of
Autoforesight Shanghai Co. "Consumers will panic and will start to buy
whatever they can before the measures." 

Local brands would suffer the most as restrictions would make
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/car-ownership/> car ownership more inconvenient
and undermine the appeal of cheaper vehicles, he said. 

More Restrictions 

Shijiazhuang, one of China's most polluted cities, proposed limiting vehicle
ownership through a lottery, according to a Shijiazhuang Daily report on the
local government's website last month. The Zhejiang eastern province held
discussions last month to limit the number of new vehicles in the provincial
capital of Hangzhou and Xi'an, home of China's terracotta warriors,
discussed limiting vehicle ownership last year. 

CAAM is opposed to the restrictions because they go against efforts to boost
consumption, deprives people of the equal right to own a car and don't do
much to ease traffic jams, Shi said. The association has submitted a study
on the impact of purchase limits to the Ministry of Industry and
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/information-technology/> Information
Technology, which oversees the  <http://topics.bloomberg.com/auto-industry/>
auto industry, he said. 

The auto group said in February that the industry has become a "scapegoat"
for the toxic smog that engulfed Beijing last winter when coal-fired
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/power-plants/> power plants should bear the
main responsibility for the pollution. 

Passenger-vehicle sales rose 9.3 percent to 1.4 million units in June, the
association said today, after dealers increased discounts to clear stock and
meet half-year targets amid a cash crunch and concerns the economy is
slowing. For the first half, passenger-vehicle deliveries increased 14
percent, while total vehicle demand, including buses and trucks, gained 12
percent, according to CAAM.