Passenger vehicle sales fall 1.4%

Sales of passenger vehicles in China fell 1.4% year-on-year in September, marking the second straight month of declines, the Wall Street Journal reported. A total of 552,800 vehicles were sold, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Sales had fallen 6.3% in August, the first decline in more than three years. However, taken together, sales in the January-September period rose 11.4% year-on-year, to 5.1 million units. Sales declined in September despite expectations of a post-Olympics rebound, which was expected to be helped by a traditional pre-National Day sales peak. The automotive sector has been a weak spot in China's otherwise resilient consumer and retail sector, which was detailed in our October cover story.