China SUV sales soar even as car market slows

Beijing

EDWARD Bao, a Chinese highway operations manager in the coastal city of Ningbo, is hunting for a bigger car for his young family and is considering trading up from a compact sedan to a sports utility vehicle (SUV).

Mr Bao is part of China's swelling ranks of middle-class consumers who are upgrading to SUVs and in the process heating up competition between domestic car firms and global giants as other parts of the world's largest auto market slow.