The US Federal Reserve has now spent $7tn bailing out Wall Street. But it couldn’t save the 102-year old Hertz rental company from filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its US business on Friday night. Sadly, Hertz won’t be the only casualty. Its collapse instead marks the moment when the problems created by two […]
Chemicals and the Economy
Chain’s smartphone and auto sales tumble as coronavirus hits demand
China is the world’s largest market for smartphones and autos – responsible for c30% of global sales for both. Yet as Reuters notes: “Most western policymakers and journalists view the world economy through a framework that is 10-15 years out of date, failing to account fully for the enormous shift in activity towards China and […]
China’s used cars put a dent in global industry
China is now developing a used car market for the first time in its history. This means the end of global auto sales growth, as I describe in my latest post for the Financial Times, published on the BeyondBrics blog China’s car market has been key to the recovery in global auto sales growth since […]
BRIC auto sales stall as Brazil and Russia recessions worsen
Clouds are gathering over the auto industry, as the impact of the post-2008 stimulus programmes fades into history. It is hard to believe that back in 2013, only 3 years ago, analysts were confidently predicting that Russia would have become the world’s 5th largest market by 2020. And they were similarly forecasting great things for Brazil, which […]
Global car sales growth stalls without China
Where would the global auto industry be without the Chinese market? Without China, sales in the other Top 6 markets stalled last year, and were down 100k. And what will happen now China’s economy is slowing, and it is also starting to develop a large used car market for the first time? Buyers will then […]
China’s auto prices tumble as sales fall 3% in June
Its not a good time to be selling new cars in China. As the chart shows: Sales fell 2% in Q2 (red line) versus 2014 (green), with June down 3.4% This is the first time sales have fallen in a quarter since Q1 2011 (pink) China’s auto dealer association said customer visits to dealers “dropped […]
China’s used car market set to drive future auto sales growth
China’s auto market is going through major change. Tier 1 cities have imposed limits on car ownership, and car use by government officials is being severely restricted. In addition, the lending bubble that drove major growth in recent years is coming to an end. Perhaps even more importantly for the medium term, a used car market is now developing […]
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