New car sales around the world will gain momentum next year after an initial recovery this year, likely setting the stage for record sales in 2011, the research arm of Scotiabank said in a report on Tuesday.
The emerging markets of China, India and Brazil will take the lead, but “the key US market” will not be far behind with an expected double-digit, 10 percent growth in auto sales, Scotia Economics said in its Global Auto Report.
“Global car sales will continue to be buoyed by the ongoing massive and synchronized monetary and fiscal stimulus,” said Carlos Gomes, senior economist of Scotia Economics.
The stimulus “has generated a global economic recovery, including improving auto lending across the globe,” Gomes said.
The report said better access to credit and the return to three percent growth in the world economy will enable next year’s car sales to recover half the ground lost over the past two years, setting the stage for record volumes in 2011.
In the US, car sales stopped declining by the middle of the year and have resumed normal annual growth rates since August as the economy experienced a “nascent” recovery, the report said.
This year, China surpassed the US as the world’s biggest car market, with sales surging by more than 40 percent to 7.3 million, with an additional 20 percent growth expected next year to almost 9 million vehicles.
In India, car sales also reached a record 1.4 million units this year, with gains accelerating sharply in the second half as credit availability improved, Scotia Economics said.
DISCOUNTS
Meanwhile, General Motors Co offered deep discounts on its remaining Saturn and Pontiac vehicles as it looks to move the leftover inventory of the soon-to-be-dead brands, a report said.
The automaker will pay US dealers US$7,000 for every new Saturn or Pontiac left on their lot if the vehicle is moved to dealer-operated rental or service fleets, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a letter mailed to dealers.
This will allow dealers to sell the cars and trucks to consumers at a discount, although the vehicles would be labeled as used because the dealer would technically be the first owner.
The offer expires on Monday, the newspaper said. GM spokesman Tom Henderson confirmed the details of the incentive plan on Tuesday.
“That was the purpose of the programs — to help dealers reduce those inventories,” he said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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