China's top 10 auto industry stories, trends during 2018

China slashes car tariffs

China slashed import tariffs for automobiles and vehicle components starting July 1 as part of its efforts to further open up the market. Automobile tariffs－previously 20 percent to 25 percent－fell to 15 percent, and those for components－which ranged from 8 percent to 25 percent－fell to 6 percent. Following the news, carmakers have cut the prices of their imported models, benefiting the vast number of consumers in China and encouraging competition in the industry. In 2017, China imported 1.22 million vehicles, some 4.2 percent of total sales. Most of the imports were from the United States, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom.