Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/07/2013 -- Private passenger car sales for the first four months of the year rose 25% y-o-y, to 11,996 units. We are maintaining our 2013 sales forecast of 3% growth, to 36,756 units.

Commercial vehicle (CV) sales for the first four months of the year grew by 72%, to 2,182 units. We believe this surge in sales in the past few months was due to the incentive scheme for replacing Euro II diesel CVs with new CVs, which are less polluting. Given that this scheme is ending on June 30 2013, we do not believe sales will perform as well in H213.

However, the success of the 'cash for clunkers' programme initiated in 2013 for CVs is evident and we are therefore upgrading our 2013 CV sales growth forecast to 33.5%, to 6,000 units. This would then bring our total 2013 auto sales growth forecast to 6.4%, to 42,704 units.

View Full Report Details and Table of Contents

In 2012, vehicle sales grew by 2.2%, to 40,141 units. However, this low growth figure should not be of too much concern. Hong Kong's automotive market is mature and saturated even by global standards and the local government actively tries to limit car ownership in what is one of the world's most densely populated areas. The potential for rapid growth is limited and BMI expects sales to reach only 45,629 by the end of our forecast period in 2017. This indicates that growth is set to average around 2% over the coming years.

The overwhelmingly dominant part of Hong Kong's auto market will continue to be passenger vehicles. In 2012 passenger car sales totalled 35,685, which is just under 89% of all total vehicle sales in the city province. While commercial vehicle (CV) sales contracted by 1.4% in 2012 to 4,456 units, we expect CV sales to grow by 34% in 2013 to 5,948 units due to a new round of subsidies offered by the government to incentivise owners of old diesel CVs to replace them, in a bid to battle Hong Kong's worsening air pollution. We forecast the CV segment to enjoy annual average growth of 2.7% over the 2014-2017 period, to hit 6,620 units by 2017.

About Fast Market Research
Fast Market Research is an online aggregator and distributor of market research and business information. Representing the world's top research publishers and analysts, we provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available. Our unbiased, expert staff will help you find the right research to fit your requirements and your budget. For more information about these or related research reports, please visit our website at http://www.fastmr.com or call us at 1.800.844.8156.

Browse all Transportation research reports at Fast Market Research

You may also be interested in these related reports:

- Vietnam Autos Report Q3 2013
- Hungary Autos Report Q3 2013
- Algeria Autos Report Q3 2013
- Malaysia Autos Report Q3 2013
- Serbia Autos Report Q3 2013
- Mexico Autos Report Q3 2013
- Brazil Autos Report Q3 2013
- Russia Autos Report Q3 2013
- Qatar Autos Report Q3 2013
- Venezuela Autos Report Q3 2013