Parallel Imported Auto Market Cools Down.docVIP

Parallel Imported Auto Market Cools Down On January 7， the paral- lel imported car pilot program， portrayed as Shanghai’s efforts toward a fairer， more market-oriented imported car market， kicked off in the city’s Free Trade Zone （FTZ）. In the FTZ， it only costs 730，000 yuan to buy a BWM X6， which is sold at a price of more than 900，000 in a BWM 4S store. However， with such an attractive price， highly-anticipated parallel imported cars unexpectedly fail to win the favor of consumers. On the day when the parallel imported auto exhibition center debuted in the Shanghai FTZ， only four units of parallel imported cars were sold on site， highlighting a slack market. So， what causes the thin trade in the cost-efficient parallel imported cars？ Price Advantages Markedly Diminished Due to Discounts of Imported Autos According to latest data released by the China Automobile Dealer Association （CADA） on March 3， the country imported 98，300 cars in January， a 13% drop from a year earlier， while manufacturers only delivered 79，500 cars， down 20.8% from January 2014. “China’s imported car market got off to a bad start in 2015，” says Wang Cun， deputy director at the Information Department of Imported Automobile Committee of the CADA. On the other side， in contrast to the sharp declines in both demand and supply， the inventory of imported automobiles has shot through the roof. Since June 2014， imported auto inventories have been skyrocketing. By the end of October 2014， the inventory figure had surpassed its record created in 2012. In a bid to alleviate the overwhelming inventory pressure， authorized dealers decided to sell their imported cars at a sharp discount last year. In such a case， the price advantage of parallel imported cars is largely diminished. For instance， price spreads of Toyota Prado 2700 and BWM X5 xDrive35i， the top two best-selling imported cars， both significantly narrow. In Shanghai， authorized imported car dealers provide buyers of the two car models a discoun