HAMBURG/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen's (DE:VOWG_p) premium brand Audi said on Thursday it was reviewing its 2015 target of selling 600,000 cars, the latest sign that a downturn in demand for passenger cars in the world's biggest car market is more severe than automakers expected.
Last week the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) slashed its 2015 vehicle sales growth forecast to 3 percent from 7 percent previously, leaving makers like Volkswagen (XETRA:VOWG) potentially exposed.
Last year Audi sold 578,900 cars in China, a rise of almost 18 percent compared with a year earlier.
Audi's sales performance in China has dramatically worsened over the past seven months, with delivery growth steadily plunging from 30 percent last December to 0.2 percent in April, before sliding into the red in May and June, when sales sank 5.8 percent.
This week Brilliance China Automotive (HK:1114), BMW's (DE:BMWG) local joint venture partner, has said it expects profits to fall by 40 percent in the first half mainly because of sluggish demand for BMW's cars in a sign that even the strongest brands are starting to suffer.
Audi said it would provide an update on its sales target for China when it publishes financial results for the first half of 2015 on July 30.