By Qiaoyi Li, Ziyi Tang and Brenda Goh
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s efforts to boost auto sales by cutting downpayments on car loans stand to be frustrated by a price war and consumer caution, chiefly benefiting a few brands favoured by younger buyers, such as Tesla and Nio, analysts said.
Authorities pitching the move as a way to boost the economy said this week they would set car loan terms and quotas “reasonably”, but stopped short of revealing the new levels.
The revision is likely to be the first in rules for management of car loans since 2017, few industry officials and analysts saw it as a gamechanger, however.
“It won’t move the needle much,” said Christopher Beddor, deputy director of China research at Gavekal Dragonomics.
“Household auto demand is likely to slow this year, and tweaking minimum downpayments for purchases isn’t likely to change that.”
Some firms are already offering zero downpayments for car leasing deals in a…
