China’s auto sales down 11.6 percent

“This is a serious problem,” Li Yizhong, the industry minister, said at a news conference.

The sales decline reported by Li was even sharper than the 10.3 percent decline reported this week by state media. It was a sharp reverse for China's automakers, which saw sales grow by 18.5 percent in 2007.

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China is the world's second-largest vehicle market after the United States, and global automakers were counting on fast-growing Chinese sales to help drive revenue growth as sales elsewhere weakened.

Beijing is considering ways to revive sales including cutting taxes, offering low-interest loans or forcing older, more polluting vehicles off the road, Li said. But he gave no indication that any measures had been decided or when they might take effect.

“We should roll out policy incentives,” the minister said.