German autos association lifts forecast for China growth

[FRANKFURT] German carmakers' association VDA raised its forecast for 2016 growth of China's car market to 6 per cent, citing a pickup of sales there in the fourth quarter.

"The Chinese passenger car market has switched on turbo gear again since October," VDA President Matthias Wissmann said in a statement on Monday, as he attended the Geneva car show.

In December, VDA had said it expected car sales in China to grow by 2 per cent this year.

VDA also said on Monday it expected sales of light vehicles in the United States to reach 17.5 million this year from 17.44 million in 2016, while it sees global car sales growing by 2 per cent to 80 million.

REUTERS